


How to Disarm Tasers

by musicismagic



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy is AWESOME, Everybody does Science!, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Humor, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 23:32:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2751281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicismagic/pseuds/musicismagic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SHIELD is rebuilt, but to stay in Thors good books, Director Coulson has agreed to hide Loki on earth, in return for Loki assisting Jane Foster and Thor remaining a member of the Avengers.<br/>Darcy has been assigned to the team responsible for Lokis integration, in other words, she's a glorified babysitter, but hell, they're paying her and she gets to live in Stark Tower!<br/>What could possibly go wrong? Oh, you mean like falling totally in love with an alien prince who is wanted on at least 5 different planets?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second attempt at fan fic so I hope you like it.  
> I hope to post weekly but it all depends on work, uni and kids not conspiring against me and my muse!  
> Enjoy!

Monday, S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ 11.30am  
"MISS LEWIS!"

Agent Mays voice pierced into Darcys daydream like a jumbo jet coming to land in a peaceful forest clearing. Darcy shot upright in her chair and met Agent Mays glare and, shit, did she look pissed!

"Am I boring you?"

Darcy opened her mouth to answer but quickly shut it again as the Agents lips pressed into a firmly dissaproving scowl.

"Because I can see how being involved in a top secret mission to protect and rehabillitate one of the actual Gods of norse mythology might seem a tad dull after the excitement of being a glorified gopher to an obsessive physicist for the last five years. No, wait, actually I can't!"

Offended, Darcy opened her mouth to speak, and this time did not close it.

"Well, considering that my job as a 'glorified gopher' actually included" Darcy ticked things off on her fingers as she spoke "discovering an actual cross dimensional bridge to other sentient worlds, tasing the prince of Asgard, nearly getting blown up by a robot that looked like it emerged from one of Tony Starks wet dreams, breaking Eric out of police custody and helping save the frickin world from the dark elves, I'd say it takes a helluva lot to impress me these days."

Darcy could've sworn she saw a self satisfied smirk cross Agent Mays face before she settled back to her usual neutral expression and continued as though the last few moments had never happened.

"As you know, Loki is being handed into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody for an indeterminate length of time to assist in Dr Fosters construction of a stable Enstein-Rosen Bridge. In return, we are to keep Loki concealed from Odin Allfather and the numerous enemies, of earth and other worlds, that would like to see his head on a spike."

Agent May paused for a moment, studying Darcy intently.

"For some reason, Dr Foster is adamant that you remain involved in the project, however as she now has 10 ACTUAL scientists as interns, your role is being upgraded. You have a degree in Political Science and have been exposed, however unintentionally, to things that our organisation would rather keep out of the public consciousness for the time being. You are also on friendly terms with Thor and a number of the Asgardian Warriors who follow him."

Agent May paused again at the slightly incredulous look on Darcys face. I mean, yeah, Thor was a friend, but she barely shared eye contact with Sif or the Warriors Three, just ducked and covered while they got their asses handed to them by the destroyer.

As Darcy schooled her features into a less revealing expression, Agent May continued.

"As a result of these factors, we would like you to be part of Lokis Integration Team".

Darcy was no idiot.

"So what you're saying is, I'm going to be a babysitter? To a possibly homicidal, seriously unhinged, alien prince of some frozen wasteland while he hides from one of the oldest beings in the galaxy who wants to throw him in prison for the next 5000 years?"

"Precisely" Agent May didn't bother to hide her grin this time.

Darcy briefly considered refusing. I mean, she could do hundreds of things, its not like work is hard to come by...oh, wait...

"Fine, but I want a pay rise."

Agent May pushed a thick folder across the table.

Along with so many confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure contracts, and a form that looked like she might actually be signing away her first born, was an employment contract, and shit, that was nearly treble the best wage she had ever had!

Darcy picked up a pen, and spent the next three hours signing her life over to S.H.I.E.L.D. including agreeing to move into Stark Tower for the next three months, during the first stage of Lokis time on Earth.

As she walked home, munching on a salmon and cream cheese bagel from one of her favourite Deli’s, Darcy thought about what she had just agreed to. Sure, they had been paving the way for this for months, training Darcy in some of the inter-planetary politics they had been embroiled in since the Dark Elves, and the Earth politics of rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. post HYDRA, but it still felt weird to have an actual name for the job they had been training her for.

Especially when that name was “Loki’s Babysitter”.

She made it to her apartment by 3.30pm, having been allowed to leave early to start packing and preparing for her new job.

Loki was due to arrive in one week, and Darcy planned to be as prepared as possible to deal with whatever the God of Mischief could throw at her.

One Week Later  
Darcy was stood somewhere near the back of a crowd of around twenty people on the Helipad/IronMan landing pad outside of Tony Starks penthouse apartment. 

The front of the crowd contained Director Coulson, looking as unruffled as ever, and sharing a joke with the bedazzling billionaire himself, Tony Stark, complete with IronMan suit and and a rocket launcher that looked like it could be his newest toy.

Jane was stood to the side of Coulson and Stark, looking out of place beside the totally badass trio of Agents Hill, May and Romanov, all of whom have guns strapped to their thighs and faces that could turn even the best trained of the male S.H.I.E.L.D agents into nervous, intimidated wrecks.

Darcy recognised most of the rest of the group. Some were Janes new interns, here to take readings when the Bifrost opened (trust Jane not to miss an opportunity to do science even when she’ll be otherwise occupied greeting her hunk of alien muscle), some were Darcys new colleagues in the team of disaster-preventers assigned to keep Loki out of trouble, and the remaining few were Coulsons most trusted agents, there to make sure Loki didn’t try anything like world domination this time.

Just as Darcy finished appraising the assembled group around her, a blinding light burst out of the sky, dissolving to reveal Thor, in all his armoured glory, and Loki, wearing his own armour, but looking slightly less impressive considering his hands were cuffed in front of him and two burly Asgardian warriors holding him by the elbows.

Darcy watched the brief introduction between Coulson and Thor, then followed the group inside to the boardroom, where the terms of Lokis stay on earth were discussed and introductions were made.

When her moment came to be introduced to Loki, she couldn’t help but notice the sparkling green eyes that looked back at her as she smiled nervously from her seat at the far end of the table. Her stomach gave the tiniest lurch, but it was enough to alarm her.

Hell no! She was not going to go mushy over a crazy god, no matter how stunning his eyes were.

At the other end of the table, Loki noticed the small blush creep over the cheeks of the attractive Midgardian girl called Agent Lewis.

Well, perhaps there were things on this planet that could entertain him after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy and Loki meet again, but it does not go how either of them would probably like!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm supposed to be writing my PhD research proposal, as well as an environmental report for work.
> 
> Instead, I give you chapter 2!!!
> 
> I know where my priorities lie!

The first month in Darcys new role was, well, there was only one word for it and that was DULL.

She hadn’t been allowed near Loki at all since that first, brief introduction on the day he arrived, and since then she had been filling her days with research on all the different worlds that wanted Loki dead (five if you count Asgard) and the crimes he had committed.

Although, the list of crimes had come mostly from Loki himself so how full it was was up for debate.

There was Vanaheim, where he had started a civil war by alternately disguising himself as two opposing leaders and basically stirring shit until the battles began.

Nornheim wanted him for the simple crime of, how had he put it? Oh yeah, “deflowering” their most revered and trusted priestess.

He was still wanted by the Jotuns for his misguided attempt at blowing up their entire world, and then, there was Asgard.

It hadn't taken Thor long to realise that the king was not acting normally, and once Lokis deceit had been uncovered there had, apparently, been an almighty, clash-of-the-titans type smackdown that took out half of Lokis rooms in the palace.

According to what Jane had told her, Darcy understood that Heimdall had intervened before the brothers could kill each other, or the magical warding failed on Lokis rooms completely revealing him to the rest of Asgard.

Once he'd had time to calm down, Thor had come to realise he was in danger of losing his brother AGAIN if their father ever discovered Loki impersonating him, so he had turned to Earth, and the Avengers, to help him hide his brother.

And that was what had brought the second leather clad god into her life!

Darcy leant back in her chair and stretched her arms above her head, trying to loosen some of the knots forming in her shoulders and neck after weeks of being hunched at her desk reading about ancient cultures and the politics of Yggdrasil.

As she rolled her head round and round, trying to ease the ache that was starting to build, her thoughts landed on the fifth world that wanted revenge on Loki.

Thanos and the Chitauri were such a force of evil, it was difficult to truly grasp the level of their hatred for Loki. He had led them into battle, only to get thousands of them killed. The fact that he had lived was the highest shame to the Chitauri, but to Thanos it was far worse.

Darcy didn't like to think what might happen if they ever found him back on earth, living amongst the people he had once tried to conquer.

Although, Darcy wasn't sure how much 'living' he was actually doing!

Since his arrival, he had been allowed out of his quarters twice, both times to visit Janes lab and demonstrate teleportation skills for her new little hive of interns to collect data on, and then he had been quickly hustled back to his rooms.

As his escort had passed her in the corridor on that second occasion a week ago, she had seen the difference in Loki. He had been clear skinned, bright eyed and clean shaven when he had arrived, but now his hair was limp and greasy, he had dark circles under his eyes and his jaw was obscured by a dark, unkempt beard.

She couldn't help but feel a little bad for the guy. The only people he had interacted with so far had been Jane and her little gang of minions and a group of dour looking SHIELD agents who rarely opened their mouths except to barks orders.

Darcy had read a lot about the human rights and politics involved in holding foreign nationals in prisons, and she knew what solitary confinement could result in if continued for too long, regardless of the plush surroundings he enjoyed in stark tower.

As she brought her hands back down to her desk and lifted her head up to look at her computer screen, the memory of the change she had seen in Loki steeled her resolve.

She had had this email drafted for a couple of days, requesting access to Loki and his quarters in order to "adapt him to life amongst humans" as it was "unclear how long his exile on Earth might last" but she had yet to send it because, well, what was she really?

Just some girl they had kept on to keep Jane happy. While the rest of her team were qualified agents who shared some of the guard duty and kept Loki from causing trouble, she was just sat at her desk all day researching cultures that, hopefully, didn't even know he was still alive.

No! Not anymore. Before she could talk herself out of it, Darcy sent her email to Agent May.

She regretted the decision almost instantly, but she knew it couldn't be undone, so instead of sitting at her desk dreaming up the worst possible response she could get, she decided to go for lunch.

An hour later, with a stomach full of cheese and bacon croissant and delicious coffee, she settled back down at her desk.

Oh shit. Agent Mays reply was already in her inbox.

With slightly trembling fingers she shifted the mouse over the email and clicked 'open'.

Dear Agent Lewis,  
JARVIS informed our guest that you will visit him in his quarters at 2pm.  
The guards are aware to expect you.  
Please do not take any sharp objects (pens, pencils, cutlery or glass) as they will be removed during your search.

Also, be aware that the rooms are monitored by video at all times and if you require assistance there will be guards outside the door to come to your aid.

May I suggest you begin his lessons with something small, such as how to work the shower?!

Good luck!  
Agent M. May

Well, that did not fill her with confidence. And, what the fuck? Shower?

That was not in the job description!

Actually, it may well have been in the job description, but Darcy had given up on reading it 20 pages in when she realised she was barely even half way through!

Her thoughts began drifting back to the beautiful eyes that had made such an impression on her during that first brief meeting. A flush crept across her skin as she remembered the numerous dreams that those eyes had managed to penetrate since. There was no way in hell she was helping the guy shower without spontaneously combusting!

Darcy glanced upwards, catching the clock out of the corner of her eye. SHIT! She had been daydreaming for over 40 minutes!

She only had 10 minutes left to get ready to meet the owner of the eyes that she could not stop thinking about.

Darcy started hurriedly gathering up random supplies before she remembered that almost all of them would be taken off her before she could enter.

Instead, she simply pulled her long brown hair into a ponytail, fixed her make up (nothing at all to do with the recent daydreams, just seemed like the professional thing to do) and sprinted to the lift.

Once inside, she punched the number for level 39, just below Starks 40th floor penthouse, swiped her access card and felt her stomach drop as she hurtled upwards.

The lifts at Stark Tower always made her stomach churn. Combined with her ever escalating nervousness over what she had gotten herself into, by the time she got out of the lift she felt ready to throw up.

Pulling herself together as much as she could, Darcy stepped out of the lift and walked on wobbly legs towards the two guards either side of Lokis door.

Smiling, Darcy recognised one of them as Agent Maggie Jones, one of her only real friends in SHIELD besides Jane, and she began to relax.

Mags gave Darcy a warm smile, chatting as her partner, Agent John Lake, quickly frisked Darcy, before going through her bag.

There was very little in Darcys bag, but the bag itself had a long strap that could be fashioned into a noose, or used as rope, so the Agents were reluctant to let her take it in.

"Its cool guys, there's almost nothing in it! I don't mind leaving it here if that's best."

Mags smiled again. "Thanks Darce, that's probably a good idea."

"Right then, you're clear. Agent May has instructed us to give you two hours, no more" huffed Agent Lake, swiping his key card down a reader to the left of the door, while Mags did the same to the right. 

The door opened, and Darcy felt a cold shiver as she stepped across the threshold. 

As the door closed behind her, Darcy realised that the cold shiver had nothing to do with nervousness or anticipation of meeting Loki, but was actually due to the fact that the temperature in the room was about 5 degrees lower than the rest of Stark tower.

Darcy stepped to the side and began hunting for the climate controls that existed in every room in Stark tower.

Just as she began to dial up the temperature, a voice spoke to her out of nowhere. 

“I wouldn't do that, Miss Lewis. Our guest appears to like the cold"

The voice of JARVIS coming out of the walls had long since lost its ability to startle Darcy under normal circumstances, however, she was ashamed to admit that it had made her jump a good foot in the air on this occasion. 

“I think he can cope for a few hours while he has a guest otherwise I'm going to freeze"

"The term 'guest' would imply that you are welcome here."

At the sound of Lokis voice, Darcy jumped a mile. 

She spun around to face the source of the smooth baritone, but the space she had expected to be occupied by Loki was empty.

"Easily startled little thing, aren't you?"

Darcy spun again, unsurprised to find nothing but slowly moving air as the heating kicked into life.

“Nope, not there either, my dear! 

Now that Darcy was over the initial shock, Lokis game was quickly becoming irritating. 

It was with head held high that Darcy strode further into the gloom of Lokis rooms, heading straight for the closed curtains shutting out the light of a beautiful spring day, trying to slow her breathing and tamp down the rising sense of fear that she had made a terrible mistake.

As she dragged the heavy material along its pole, she drew in an appreciative breath at the view spread out in front of her.

It was beautiful. 

Darcy loved New York, and this view reminded her why.  
Her own apartment in Stark tower was on the 5th floor, beautifully lit and decorated with subtle style, but the view extended as far as the neighbouring buildings. 

It was nothing like this. 

Darcy was stood in a huge lounge area, with flat screen tv on the wall and plush sofas facing one another across a simple wooden coffee table. 

Through a sliding glass door she could see a kitchen diner big enough to seat 10 in total comfort. 

Down a short corridor Darcy counted four doors, which she imagined were bedrooms and en suite bathrooms.

Despite the total mess of food cartons, crisp packets and general detritus, the place was clearly gorgeous. 

“When you have finished admiring my prison, perhaps you could see fit to tell me why you're here?"

Loki materialised out of the air beside her as he spoke, standing so close Darcy had to take a step back to look at his face.

Her fear, which had diminished in the face of the stunning view, vanished entirely when she looked at Loki.

In the past week he had come to look even worse. His eyes were ringed with dark circles of black, purple and blue. His normally clear green eyes were shot with streaks of red and his hair, which had been glossy when he had arrived, was hanging limp, greasy and dirty around his devastatingly hollow cheekbones.

“My God!” Darcy breathed, feeling bile rise in her throat at the thought that she worked for the people who had done this to him. The space that had earlier been filled with fear was now overwhelmed with pity.

“Well, finally one of you lowly humans sees fit to use my proper title!” Loki ground out, clearly trying to give off his usual air of intimidation, but the whole effect was ruined by the fact he was swaying with the effort it took to stand.

With one particularly violent sway, Darcy grabbed him around the waist and tried to guide him to the couch. But, holy fuck, he was heavy for a bag of bones.

After a few moments of heaving, Darcy finally managed to get Loki to lie on the couch.

He looked to have passed out.

Filled with the fire of righteous fury, Darcy stormed out of his rooms, past Agents Lake and Jones, and into the lift.

She jabbed the button for the 45th floor so hard she thought she had broken it, before the lift kicked into life and she went rocketing skywards.

Barely half a second later, she was stood at the desk of Director Coulsons PA, demanding to see the Director immediately.

Coulsons door flew open as the argument between Darcy and the PA (or Bitch in Heels as Darcy would forever call her from this day forward) reached a pitch that could probably be heard in the basement.

“Agent Lewis, why don’t you come in and we can have this conversation at a more reasonable volume.” Coulson invited, holding the door open for Darcy to pass.

“Alexis, could you please ask Agent May to join us.” he said over his shoulder, before snapping the door shut behind them.

“So Agent Lewis, what makes you think we would be torturing our guest?” he asked in a voice so calm and smooth, Darcy was pretty sure she was about to disappear off the face of the Earth, forever.

‘Oh, Shit’ she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is alot of ground work to go through before smuttyness ensues, however I promise it wont take me 30 chapters like it did last time! Especially if they're this long!
> 
> As usual, please let me know how you feel about the story so far (what little of it there is) and please remember I am a British Country Mouse and I have never been to the US so if my descriptions are a bit, well, awful...please be kind and just tell me where I've gone wrong. I will happily accept critiscism if you give me some idea of what you'd like to see instead!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki is an ass!

Darcy had always liked Coulson.

He may have been the ‘Jack-booted thug’ who stole their research back in New Mexico, but he had never been anything other than polite about it. And since Darcy had been working for S.H.I.E.L.D. he had always said hello if they passed in the corridors and always smiled if they were in a meeting with Jane and Tony and the other sciency-type people and Darcy said something funny.

In short, she had never really felt intimidated by him. He was just too...nice.

But, right now, she was seriously intimidated! He had his arms folded across his chest as he leant on his desk with a scrutinising half-smile on his face. There was complete silence in the office while they waited for Agent May to join them.

And when the door slammed open and Darcy watched Agent May stride silently to Coulsons side, her heart, and courage, dropped. May and Coulson exchanged a few whispered words, but most of the conversation seemed to be telepathic. Perhaps that’s what happens when you work together so long.

Their conversation was cut short as Mags and John escorted a perfectly healthy looking Loki into the room.

Darcys mouth fell open in shock. He was totally bloody fine! The mischievous glint in his eyes told her that he had just been playing with her. Before anyone could stop her, she stood up and slapped him across the face, hard!

Coulson let out a sharp laugh as he reached for Darcys arm, before she could land another blow to their guest.

“I think, Loki, that you should have a seat. As should you, Miss Lewis.”

Loki took the offered seat, crossing one leg over the other and resting his ankle on his knee, looking perfectly at ease. Darcy, on the other hand, dropped into her seat practically vibrating with rage.

Darcy met Agent Mays eyes and was shocked to receive the smallest of smiles.

“So,” Coulson asked, looking at Loki “care to explain the situation in which we find ourselves?”

“I have been confined to my quarters with very little company for nearly a month. You can’t expect me not to take an opportunity for some amusement when it presents itself. Miss Lewis clearly cannot handle a simple jest.” he said with a shrug of his shoulders and a half smile that would have been sexy if everyone in the room was a little less pissed with him.

“You made her believe we had caused you serious harm. I hardly think that can be classed as a ‘simple jest’.” he said, rubbing his hand across his forehead as though trying to smooth away the frown lines that had creased his face. “However, I do feel that keeping you so isolated may be a mistake.”

Coulson and May shared another look that seemed to contain an entire conversation, before he spoked again.

“Agent Lewis, I appreciate your concern of our treatment of our guest, so if you are still willing, I think perhaps it would be best if we did begin to integrate Loki a little more. Would you want to be involved?”

Darcy looked at Loki, considering her options. She could refuse to work with him again on the grounds that he’s a total arsehole, she could agree to integrate him and carry out her work as a professional woman, or (a smile slid across her face as she considered her final option) she could get some revenge on the smug, sexy bastard.

“I would be happy to stay involved, Director. We clearly had a small misunderstanding.” She smiled sweetly at Loki, who shifted slightly in his chair. He obviously sensed that something was happening that would not be good for him, but he kept his mouth shut and his eyes fixed on Darcy.

Coulson could sense that he was potentially opening a can of worms, but pressed on at a slight nod from May.

“Very well.” he said “Loki, you should return to your rooms, Agent Lewis will visit again tomorrow morning at 10am. Be prepared to learn, because if it seems that you are making no effort to fit in, we will be renegotiating the terms of your stay here, and the outcome will not be in your favour.”

Loki smiled at the thinly veiled threat, but something about this Director Philip Coulson made him a little uneasy. There were very few men in the universe that could strike up a spark of fear in the God of Mischief, but the calm, collected man before him had an edge of danger that Loki intended to steer clear of. No point adding another enemy to the list while his magic was so limited.

Loki left the room to meet Mags and John outside, while Darcy stayed behind.

“Permission to taze his ass if he so much as looks at me sideways?” she asked, only half joking.

“Permission absolutely granted.” responded May with a grin, dismissing Darcy with a wave.

Just as Darcy reached the door, she turned back to Agent May.

“What was the whole “Teach him how to use the shower’ thing about?” she asked, with her hand on the door handle.

Director Coulson laughed as Agent May looked back up at Darcy.

“He likes a deep bath, and J.A.R.V.I.S is getting upset about the water consumption. Plus, he keeps flooding the bathroom!” she replied with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

Darcy laughed as she walked out of the office.

So he likes to soak in the bath. That might be a good place to start her plot for vengeance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in posting a new chapter, my family were very ill over christmas so I didn't get chance to write.  
> Hopefully I'll be able to post a bit more regularly again now folks are better.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the lessons begin.

At 10 o clock the next morning, Darcy was still sat at her desk. She knew Loki would be waiting with some kind of trick up his sleeve to make her uncomfortable but she had no intention of giving him an easy target.

15 minutes later, she locked her computer, picked up the messenger bag that had been left on her desk marked “For your new project. Good luck, May” and headed for the lift.

After the sickening ascent in the Stark Tower lift and another quick frisk by the guards on duty, she was allowed to enter Lokis rooms. She had the message bag from May slung across her body, despite the guards initial attempts to prevent her from taking it in. The temperature was far more comfortable today, and the mess of wrappers that had littered the apartment were gone.

Loki was nowhere to be seen. Darcy imagined him to be sulking somewhere at the fact that a mere mortal was going to be tutoring him.

Darcy seated herself on one of the beautiful cream leather sofas (the one facing the windows, obviously!) and began unpacking the bag May had left for her.

Inside, Darcy found two stark pads. The one in the plain black case was clearly supposed to be for Loki as the other was a deep shade of burgundy, an almost perfect match to Darcys favourite beanie. Attached to her pad was a note from Jane.

"I've loaded these up with some of the equations and test data we need Lokis help with. Once he understands how to use it, please direct him to the folder marked 'E.R.B Mark ii' and ask if he has any input.  
P.S. I thought you'd prefer the burgundy cover to match that god awful thing you call a hat. X"

Darcy was touched that Jane had picked out the cover especially for her. The science lady had been so busy now she had actual research funds (provided by S.H.I.E.L.D), lab space (provided by Stark Industries) and real scientist interns (provided by whatever place bred that very bizarre species) that they had been struggling to spend any time together.

After a brief moment of thought for Jane, Darcy began setting up her tablet with the software and security details that she needed. As she moved on to Lokis tablet, an idea struck her for her first foray into vengeance on the currently absent god.

"Hey, JARVIS?"

"Yes, Agent Lewis?" The AIs voiced replied immediately.

"Do you still have footage saved of the invasion of New York?"

"I do, Miss."

"Excellent!" Darcy responded in her best Mr Burns voice, complete with tented fingers and evil grin "Let the games begin."

*****  
It was moments before 10am, and Loki was waiting in his rooms for Agent Darcy Lewis, the ridiculous mortal girl who was supposed to teach him how to integrate into midgardian culture.

He had noticed her immediately during his first day on Earth, while his sentence was being negotiated between his brother, Director Coulson and Tony Stark.

Even stripped of most of his powers, he could still see, and the way she flushed when their eyes met had provided him with his first glimpse of potential for simple mischief in years. His plans in recent times had been consumed by the emotions his true heritage had unleashed, and for a long time, he had only been interested in revenge and war.

Since his mothers death, Lokis grand plans suddenly seemed like the actions of a disgruntled child, and not those of a prince who had had a mother who loved him.

A silent tear fell unacknowledged from Lokis eyes, at the very moment he heard the door to his chambers open. Loki had been lost in his thoughts for so long that he had forgotten about Darcys imminent arrival, and her lateness had given his thoughts chance to wander in a direction he usually tried to avoid. He quickly hid himself from her eyes and watched as she strolled into the room.

She glanced around for a few moments, taking in the space now that it was clear of the detritus he had conjured for her benefit the previous day. 

Darcy chose to sit on the sofa facing towards the windows, and she sat for a moment enjoying the view and the gentle sunlight streaming in through the windows.

Unbeknownst to her, Darcy was sat directly opposite the hidden Loki, who continued to watch her intently as she unpacked the bag that had been slung across her curvaceous figure.

She unpacked two of the devices Loki had seen almost everyone in the building carrying, one in black and one in a deep, wine red. As Darcy read the small note that had been affixed to the second device, her face took on a soft smile.

After a few moments of quiet contemplation, Darcy began to work on the device that was clearly supposed to be hers, fingers flying all over the glass-like surface as she typed in codes, passwords and ID numbers. After 5 minutes Darcy put down her tablet and picked up the black one. She looked to be beginning the same process on this device when her fingers paused mid-air and a very mischievous grin crept across her face.

After a few moments conversation with the infernal voice that kept coming out of the walls, Darcy tented her fingers under chin, tapped them together one by one and whispered 'excellent' in such a way that Loki was convinced his punishment for tricking her would soon begin.

*****  
After a few more minutes setting up Lokis tablet, and downloading the first stage of her plans for Loki with silent assistance from JARVIS, Darcy began to wonder where the pain in the arse actually was.

Instead of going looking for him, however, she decided to get coffee, and as May had helpfully stashed a few sachets of one of Darcys favourite ground coffee beans, she set off to locate her dearest friend, the coffee machine.

*****  
Loki was quite transfixed by this strange girl.

Whatever Darcy had asked JARVIS for, she had clearly been able to locate it without further assistance, as she spent the next few minutes in silence but for the clucking if her fingers on the screen of the black device in her hand.

When she was finished, she set the tablet down on the plain oak coffee table between them, rummaged in the bag to investigate the remains of it's contents, a few folders but little else. When she noticed two small sachets of something, however, she grabbed them and set off towards the kitchen.

Loki saw his opportunity, and rose to check out the blank tablet, in the hopes it would give him a clue as to what Darcy may have in store for him. Unfortunately, the screen was locked. Just at that moment, a wonderful smell filled his nostrils and Loki poked his head into the kitchen to see Darcy relaxing and humming to herself as the coffee brewed. At the memory of the flush that coloured her cheeks the day they met, a new idea occurred to Loki, who returned silently to his room to prepare for what he imagined would be an interesting morning.

*****  
As Darcy was waiting for the coffee pot to finish filling, she leant against the counter and inhaled the glorious smell of coffee with a hint of vanilla and nutmeg.

Darcy was humming happily to herself as she poured herself a cup of coffee and started opening doors in the kitchen to locate milk and sugar.

As she finally found the fridge and bent down to retrieve some milk she heard Loki walk into the room.

"Oh, glad you could make it!" She said, injecting as much sarcasm into her voice as possible as she straightened up and turned to face him.

It took every ounce of control she had not to loose her grip on the carton of milk she was holding. Loki stood before in nothing but a pair of loose, cotton, draw-string trousers slung dangerously low on his hips and looking like he had just woken up. Darcy stood staring at his finely chiseled torso and the spectacular v of muscle that stretched from his hips down below the waistband of his trousers.

As she raked her eyes up his body she could feel her heart rate increase, but her brain ground back into gear at the smirk on Lokis face as he watched her staring, and she turned back to the coffee machine.

"You want coffee?" she asked, trying to sound unflustered and professional while fighting the heat that was rising through her.

"How thoughtful, Agent Lewis, I was wondering what that delightful aroma was. I would be very happy to try your beverage. May I help you?"

As Loki spoke, he deliberately brushed his chest against Darcys shoulder as he reached around her to take the milk. She jerked away quickly, the milk slipping from her fingers as she did so.

Loki swooped down and caught the carton only millimeters from the floor as Darcy stepped away with a hand on her chest and a fresh blush pinking her cheeks.

"Is there something wrong Agent Lewis?" he asked, one eyebrow quirked upwards and a truly filthy smirk on his face.

Darcy realised she was being toyed with, and immediately the blush began to fade as she decided to play her own game.

"Not at all, Loki. I was just surprised that you would be willing to assist in anything as mundane as making coffee."

She stepped forward again, taking the milk from Lokis hands with a cheeky curtsey and quickly finished adding milk and sugar to two coffees. She picked up the mugs and walked to the sofas with Loki a single step behind her.

She sat down and gestured for Loki to sit next to her. After a sip of her coffee she picked up her tablet and gestured for Loki to do the same.

"This is a tablet computer, you'll be able to go on the internet, communicate with Jane and the r&d team via email and download movies, music ect for entertainment."

Loki was leaning back on the sofa with the tablet in his hand and looking at Darcy attentively, as though waiting for her to continue.

“To switch it on, you just need to swipe your finger across the screen then put in your password. For now, I’ve just set the password as Loki. So, go ahead.”

Loki was mildly amused at the idea that she thought he had no experience of such technology. The last time he had been on Earth he had had a small army of willing assistants against S.H.I.E.L.D, and some unwilling ones, who had taught him as much as he needed to know about earth technology. Regardless, Loki followed Darcys intructions.

He ran his finger along the darkened screen, and once it had come to life, typed in his name using the English characters that had appeared on his keyboard.

Loki was almost deafened by the sound of crashing as his living rooms surround sound system burst into life playing the soundtrack to the footage that was running on his screen.

He could see himself being hurled into the floor of Stark Tower by the Hulk, smashed unceremoniously through inches of concrete and steel by the giant green monster, who walked out of shot of the internal security cameras declaring Loki to be a “Puny God”.

Darcy was giggling furiously at the shock on Lokis face, and he realised just what she had been looking for during her conversation with JARVIS earlier. He put the tablet down on the table as he picked up his coffee. Leaning back into his seat, he turned to look at the still giggling Darcy.

“Very amusing, Agent Lewis.” he said as flatly as possible.

Darcy continued to giggle.

“Thats just the beginning” she said “Now, how about you put on a shirt and we can carry on with todays lesson?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lessons continue....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in two days! Do not get lulled into a false sense of security, I now have back to back meetings for the next four days so chances to write will be thin on the ground, but I will do my best to post as soon as I can!

Once Loki had conjured a cotton, tunic-style shirt over his highly distracting body, they got on with some basic lessons. Darcy asked Loki what he already understood, and she tailored the lesson towards filling in the little gaps in his knowledge.

After an hour, Loki decided he wanted another coffee, and Darcy was happy to take a break and get one. They walked to the kitchen and Darcy set about rinsing their mugs to put fresh coffee in.

“What is in this drink of yours Agent Lewis? I have tried what you call coffee before and I remember it being bitter and unpleasant.”

“It’s all about the beans! They’re roasted with nutmeg and vanilla pods then they’re ground into the powder for the coffee maker. You probably had the crap they keep in the S.H.I.E.L.D staff kitchens. Or even worse…” Darcy gave a fake shudder “instant. Yuck!”

“Well, whatever I had, it was not this.”

“It’s my favourite, and I have it with milk and one spoon of sugar to give an extra edge of sweetness. Mmmmm!” she said, inhaling the steam from her fresh cup before bringing it to her lips and taking a sip.

She handed a mug over to Loki.

“I’ve made yours with milk and a sugar too, so you may want to remember that if anyone offers you coffee.” Darcy paused for a moment before adding “If you like it, I can bring you a bag tomorrow and show you how to work the coffee maker?”

Loki was surprised by her offer, and couldn’t help a small, genuine smile appearing on his face. Fortunately, Darcy had her eyes closed as she savoured another sip of her coffee.

“Thank you, Agent Lewis, I would appreciate that.”

They spent the rest of the morning working on acquainting Loki with some of the software he would need to assist Jane in her work with the Bridge, as well as teaching him to search for and download academic articles on astrophysics, quantum tunnelling and the Einstein-Rosen theories.

At 1pm, Darcy decided to leave for the day and give Loki chance to work on the information Jane had downloaded for him.

“Do you want me to come back tomorrow? Or wait a few days for you to practise the stuff I’ve shown you today?” she asked.

“Tomorrow would be fine. After all, I’m looking forward to some more of that coffee you promised.”

“Okay, right. 10am okay? Try not to oversleep this time.” she said with a pointed look at his now covered torso.

Loki grinned. “Of course, Agent Lewis. After all, I would hate to make you blush again. Although, it is a very fetching look on you.” he said waving her away and returning his attention back to his tablet.

Darcy walked out grinning at the compliment, although she knew she really shouldn’t be. She walked past the guards, giving them a quick wave, before heading for the elevator and plummeting down to her office.

She spent the rest of the day working on the report of her first lesson with Loki, omitting to mention her reaction to his half nakedness, and trying to plan out what to teach him the following day.

He seemed to have some knowledge of computers, obviously acquired when he tried to take over the world, so she decided that introducing him to cooking and the shower might be the best idea for the next day. She had found nothing but pop tarts, bread and cheese as she had rummaged around his kitchen cupboards and he could hardly live on that for the rest of his stay on Earth.

She researched some recipes she thought would be quite easy to teach him, asked JARVIS to order in the supplies and have them waiting outside his rooms in the morning and then got ready to execute part two of her plans for pranking the God of Mischief.

She quickly pulled up the security feed she had tapped into earlier and watched as Loki lounged on the sofa in his living room reading something on his new tablet that was causing his brows to furrow and him to absentmindedly scrub his left hand across his chin.

“Perfect” Darcy said to herself, hitting record on the footage so that she could torment him with it at a later date. She pressed a series of buttons on her tablet and sent the file of information to JARVIS ready to begin when she was ready.

After a few seconds, she was ready. She hit the send button on her tablet and sat back to watch.

After a 5 second delay, Loki practically threw the tablet away from him as The Hulks face appeared, full screen, and the sound of his angriest roar was again blasted through the rooms surround sound system. Darcy howled with laughter at her desks, causing a few of the other Agents on her floor to look over the tops or side of their cubicles disapprovingly.  
Darcy didn’t care! Lokis reaction to the Hulk would never get old and she was still giggling a few a few seconds later as she watched Loki pick himself up off the floor where he had fallen off the back of the sofa with the shock. As he gathered himself, he picked up the tablet to see that the screen had faded to black with bold white words printed across the screen that were clearly from Darcy.

“You messed with the wrong girl!” it said.

Darcy watched as Loki began to laugh. As though he knew Darcy would be watching, Loki sought out the nearest security camera, walked right up to it until he blocked out the room behind him, and winked into the camera.

“See you tomorrow, Agent Lewis.” he said, before walking out of the room, tablet in hand, and disappearing out of shot.

Darcy could have easily followed him on other cameras but she decided instead to stop the recording and get ready to leave for the night. She was pretty sure she had just started a prank war with the actual GOD of Mischief and needed as much time as she could get to come up with her own battle plan.

Plus, she needed supplies.

*****  
The next morning, Darcy arrived outside Lokis rooms at 9.30am to check the groceries she had ordered had arrived and passed through security.

All of the vegetables had to be ordered pre sliced as knives were definitely not allowed in the rooms of a morally ambiguous, unstable prisoner and Darcys rummage around Lokis kitchen the previous day had revealed only the barest minimum of cutlery and utensils.

As quite a keen cook herself, Darcy knew where to get good equipment at decent prices and was pleased to see a wok and some small saucepans had been allowed through the security sweep as well.

She gathered all of the things together and entered Lokis apartment, silently cursing the two guards who just stood and watched as she attempted to heave the three bags of ingredients, utensils and pans to the kitchen.

She made it through the main door, which swung shut behind her with a thud, before the first bag split sending tubs of sliced mushrooms, onions and peppers flying in all directions. She abandoned them to their fate as she tried to hustle herself into the kitchen before any more bags could tear.

Swearing under breath, she managed to get the remaining bags onto the countertop and wandered into the hallway to pick up the fallen food. As she was gathering up the plastic cartons of sliced vegetables, she heard a door open and soft footfalls begin to make their way towards her.

Darcy looked up from her position crouched on the floor to see the God of Mischief smirking down at her wearing nothing but a towel with water still dripping from his hair. She couldn’t help herself as her jaw fell open and she just gaped at him.

Damn it! Why were the crazy ones always sooooo hot!

Collecting her thoughts, she grabbed the last of the escaped tubs and stood up, flashing Loki a wide smile.

“Morning! Did you sleep well?” she asked with a sly smile “No nightmares I hope?”

“Thank you, Agent Lewis, I slept very soundly. No nightmares at all, despite your very best efforts.” Loki assumed a look of long suffering innocence that did not reach his eyes, which sparkled with the promise of revenge.

“However,” he added, “next time you feel like making me the victim of your somewhat childish games, perhaps you should remember who you are dealing with. I am the the God of Mischief after all!”

Darcy grinned again. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, your highness.”

She quickly turned on her heels and headed back into the kitchen to start putting some of Lokis new coffee stash into the machine. He walked in behind her and leant against the counter, watching as she set about storing the myriad of food containers she had brought in with her.

As Darcy turned to put something into the refrigerator, she once again lost her breath at the sight of him. Crazy alien or not, there was no denying that this guy was gorgeous. Blinking several times as she tried to clear some pretty inappropriate thoughts out of her mind, she opened the fridge to store the milk.

“Do you have something against clothes? I mean, if this is another attempt to make me blush then I have to admit to being both impressed and really dissapointed. I mean I had thought the ‘God of Mischief’ would be a little more imaginative”

“Actually, Agent Lewis, you’re early, and I had not heard you enter. Although, if you are, as you say, impressed by what you see, perhaps I should make a habit of it?” he raised an eyebrow and gave a seductive smile that sent butterflies swooping around in her stomach, but she managed to keep her voice level.

“I’m sure that Director Coulson, Agent May and your Brother would consider that to be highly improper, however I’ll risk you getting in trouble if you’re so desperate to show it off!” she replied stepping closer and daringly running the tip of her index finger down the centre of his chest, before pushing him to the side so that she could put the bag of sugar she was holding onto the shelf behind him.

Loki grinned to himself while Darcy had her back turned. He genuinely had not intended for her to see him like this, but her flirtatious response was not unpleasant and he had no strong desire to put an end to it. His skin still tingled where she had touched him and he felt a warmth in his chest that he couldn’t place.

Eventually, once Darcy had organised the mountain of food and equipment and they each had a mug of coffee in hand, Loki decided it was time to cover up. He watched Darcys reaction as he allowed the towel to melt away and conjured clothes in its place and it was all he could do not to let out a smug laugh.

At the realisation that his towel was shimmering into nonexistence, an Asgardian woman would have averted her eyes and remained silent, but Darcys sharp intake of breath and widening eyes was refreshing and strangely exciting. Her disappointment was visible when she realised that he had already covered himself in a pair of trousers, her shoulders slumped back and she huffed into her coffee.

The rest of the morning was spent with Darcy teaching Loki to cook simple food, how to run the coffee machine and how to order more groceries via JARVIS when he started running low. The time passed surprisingly quickly for Loki, who had been counting the hours of his imprisonment with increasing loneliness prior to Darcys arrival in his rooms just two short days ago.

Although Loki was quite comfortable working with Darcy, it was clear that she was waiting for Loki to do something to avenge himself on her for the Hulk incidents the day before. Loki knew she was waiting for him to do something, and the anticipation was driving her crazy. He was not the God of Mischief for nothing, and he knew how to exploit that anticipation for all it was worth.

By the time Darcy left that afternoon, after an enjoyable lunch that they had cooked together, she was looking over her shoulder every few seconds and Lokis ribs felt like they were cracking with the effort of not laughing. The next few days were going to be interesting!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This sounds cheesy but I'm really REALLY glad people are liking this fic so far!  
> Thanks for all your kind comments! I get very attached to my phone after posting a new chapter because I check for comments about every hour for the first day! Thank you all for being so nice!  
> But please feel free to offer critiscism if you think you can help improve things! I live to learn!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the prank war begins

When Darcy walked out of Lokis rooms that afternoon she felt the tension that had been accumulating over the last few hours drain out of her. She had been waiting all morning for Loki to do something to avenge himself on her, but he had done nothing, just listened to her lessons and acted perfectly pleasantly. He had even shaken her hand as she had been getting ready to leave.

As she got into the lift, having waved a quick goodbye to the agents guarding Lokis door, she dug into her bag for her ipod. As the doors shut, she heard laughter erupt from the two guards and idly wondered what they were talking about. Apart from Mags, the other Agents in her team were all so expressionless she was surprised they even knew how to laugh.

Putting her earbuds in and pushing the button for her office on the third floor, she started thinking about possible things Loki could do to get back at her. By the time she got back to her desk, oblivious to the stares she was getting as she walked, she had a list of around 200 things that a mischievous deity could do to her! And most of them were not pleasant. After all, he had tried to destroy a planet and take over the world so he was definitely not afraid to use violence.

The thought was making her stomach turn. When she was around him, she couldn’t reconcile the things he had done with the man he seemed to be. But maybe he had changed. Jane said he had fought alongside Thor to protect the universe from the Dark Elves, and even Thor grudgingly confessed that Asgard had been thriving while Loki was impersonating the king. So perhaps that was it; he was trying to make amends.

After all, he had been in S.H.I.E.L.D custody for three months and had made no trouble at all except for his ‘I’m dying, save me Darcy’ prank, which even she had to admit was funny with hindsight!

Darcy had been so consumed with her thoughts that she had not noticed the heads of her fellow agents popping over their cubicles to look at her, nor the number of people who suddenly felt the need to photocopy things in the print room behind Darcys desk, despite never having used it before in their lives.

Eventually, when a giggling Mags pulled one of her ear buds out, Darcy realised that she was being stared at by every agent on the floor, and they were all laughing so hard they could hardly breathe.

“What the hell are you all laughing at?” she demanded, looking down to see nothing that could be making her colleagues laugh. She checked her hand mirror to see if there was anything in her teeth, but she couldn’t find anything that could be causing the uproarious laughter of her colleagues.

“Darcy, just come with me, quickly.” Mags wheezed through her own laughter.

Mags pulled Darcy into the Ladies bathroom and pointed her toward the mirror. Darcy looked at her completely normal reflection and back to her friend.

“If this is supposed to be some kind of joke, it’s not funny” she spat, folding her arms across her chest as she waited for Mags to explain.

Mags seemed to sober up at Darcys expression.

“Darce, what are you wearing?” she asked

“What the hell kind of question is that? You can see what I’m wearing.”

“Just...humour me. What are you wearing?”

“Black bootcut jeans and a green wrap top.”

“Right. Well, that’s not what I see.”

“What do you see?”

Mags didn’t answer. Instead she asked “Have you seen Loki today?”

“Yes, but wha…..” the realisation hit just as Agent May stormed into the Ladies Bathroom looking for them.

Mags jumped to attention as the senior Agent just stared at Darcy, clearly trying to hold back a laugh.

“I strongly suggest you go and visit our prisoner again Agent Lewis, as it would appear that your little stunt with the Hulk footage has not gone unpunished after all.” said Agent May, holding the door open for Darcy to leave.

Before anyone could say another word, Darcy sprinted out of the Ladies, weaved her way between the cubicles of agents finally beginning to settle down after their inpromptu entertainment, and slammed the button for the lift.

She was inside before the doors were even half open, jabbing furiously at the button for the 39th floor. Once there she pushed her way between the laughing guards who swiped their keycards to unlock the doors and threw herself into Lokis rooms.

She found him sat on the sofa facing towards the doors with a grin on his face, clearly expecting her.

“Good afternoon, Agent Lewis. Did you forget something?”

“What the hell have you done? Why is everybody laughing at me?”

“I have no idea what you are referring to” he said, trying to look innocent but failing as he could not stop the corners of his mouth twitching with suppressed laughter.

Darcy grabbed the nearest cushion from the sofa infront of her and launched it at Lokis head, who erupted with laughter as he easily deflected the cushion with his forearm.

“Alright, Agent Lewis. I think this particular prank has run its course. Here…” he gestured for her to step forward, standing as she did so and raising his hands to the sides of her head.

She felt a whisper of something unfamilliar creep over her skin, and then Loki lowered his hands and settled himself back on the sofa as though nothing had happened.

“Hey!” she said, kicking his foot gently “Are you even going to explain to me what the hell you did?”

Loki looked up at her again and grinned.

“I simply put a small spell on you.” he said, as though that was answer enough, before looking back down at his tablet on the table.

“Uh, no no no no no, I’m gonna need more than that, Mr! Spill!”

Loki sighed, before standing up and gesturing for her to follow him. They entered his bedroom and Loki stood in front of a full length mirrored wardrobe, gesturing for Darcy to stand beside him. He took hold of her hand and she watched as her clothes, hair and makeup all changed into the most horrendous outfit she could ever have imagined.

She was wearing a lime green leotard, cut much too low for her ample curves, dayglo pink leggings and orange legwarmers, with her hair in a high ponytail secured with the biggest scrunchie the 80s could have conceived of. Her makeup was every shape of blue and green, with eyeshadow that spread most of the way up her forehead in stars and moons and spiral shapes.

But she didn’t feel any different. She could still feel her hair loose around her shoulders, and yet in her reflection she could clearly see it piled high on top of her head.

“Wow!” she said, taking in the vile attire that it would seem most of S.H.I.E.L.D had seen her in “Evil, but wow!”  
She turned to Loki, who again held his hands either side of her head to remove the spell.

“I had no idea you could do something like this still? I thought your magic had been, I don’t know, taken? Or reduced? I knew you could still teleport short distances and make yourself invisible and stuff, but this? How does it work?”

Loki seemed to sadden at her words, as though thinking of the powers he had lost, and Darcy could have kicked herself.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to pry, it’s just that, it’s cool, you know? You have actual magic! I’m just gonna shut up now. And go, I should probably go.”

Darcy darted to the door, looking back to see Loki standing as still as a statue, but his eyes showed a glimpse of the storm going on under the surface. She left the apartment as quickly and quietly as she could.

Loki did nothing to stop her from leaving, consumed with thoughts of Frigga, the mother who had taught him that his magic would allow him to accomplish anything, and the dark ways in which he had corrupted her gift.

As they always did in these moments, the questions that had been torturing him for months rose once again. If he hadn’t allowed himself to fall into the abyss, could he have saved her? If he had never discovered his origins, would he have been at his mothers side when Malekith had come? Was it his fault she was dead?

Loki remained in the same spot Darcy had left him for hours on end, thoughts turned inward as his guilt and shame battled with his pride, coiling his emotions into knots and wringing him out. When he finally fell into his bed to sleep, it was no relief as nightmares of his mothers death plagued him once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's only a short one today, and I'm sorry for the slight feels overload at the end there!
> 
> But I promise there'll be more fun next time!


	7. Chapter 7

Darcy lay awake for many hours thinking about Loki.

The look on his face as she had left him that evening had stayed with her all the way through her dinner, had distracted her from her favourite TV show and was still keeping her awake.

She had only been getting to know him for a couple of days, but he had already overwritten the idea she had had of him.

She had expected an entitled, smug, arrogant prick. Someone who had no remorse for his actions and who felt that earth and its human inhabitants were way beneath him. But she had been surprised to find him quite funny, quick to learn and only a little bit condescending. He was a centuries old god after all, a little condescension was almost to be expected!

Jane had spoken of Loki as a bit of a hero when the Dark Elves attacked, and his efforts to save Thor had certainly lifted him in Janes eye, however the grief she had seen Thor endure once the attack was thwarted made her less than friendly towards Loki when his continued existence was confirmed.

Darcy had heard, from a proud Thor, that Jane had once again greeted him with a right hook to the face when she had first seen him after his resurrection!

Unable to sleep, Darcy got out of bed and padded through her plush, Stark Tower apartment to her kitchen. Digging in the freezer she pulled out her favourite icecream, Ben and Jerrys Phish Food, grabbed a clean spoon from the drainer and flopped down on the sofa. Silently enjoying a few spoons of icecream, she considered her options.

It was friday night. She could either shake this thing off, enjoy her weekend and head back to work on monday having not given Loki a second thought; or she could get some sleep and in the morning maybe see if there’s something she can do to help him.

Despite Darcys occasionally brash nature, she really was a kind-hearted and generous person. The thought of leaving him alone to stew in his own thoughts for a whole weekend was not one Darcy could entertain. Instead, she made up her mind to visit Loki again tomorrow, finished her ice cream and headed back to bed. This time, with a slightly lightened mood, she fell asleep.

*****  
Loki had hardly slept at all. Nightmares of his mothers final moments had plagued him for hours and in the waking moments in between nightmares he could only wallow in the despair that had settled over him.

As he dragged himself from his bed and headed for the kitchen he began to think about his current situation.

After a few (well, more than a few) blows with Mjolnir, Thor had worked hard to keep Loki as safe as possible. Only the Warriors Three, Sif, Heimdall and two of Heimdalls most trusted watchers knew that Loki was alive, and this was something Thor was keen to maintain.

The 20 or so people form S.H.I.E.L.D who knew he was still alive had been vigorously vetted by Director Coulson, and were all deemed to be of the highest character. The exceptions to this were Dr Foster, whos relatiionship with Thor meant she was above reproach, and the intriguing Agent Darcy Lewis.

Loki set the coffee machine going, as Darcy had taught him, then leant against the counter thinking about his last few days with her. Darcy was funny, mischevious and her behaviour towards him was pleasant.

Most of the other people he had met in the month since he had arrived at S.H.I.E.L.D treated him with a cool, professional detachment, but Darcy was different. He found himself wishing for Darcys company to chase away the demons of his memories and his guilt.

Loki shook his head, attempting to rid himself of such pathetic thoughts. He was the God of Mischief and Lies, a Prince of Jotunheim by birth, raised a Prince of Asgard and the man almost single-handedly responsible for the near total destruction of the city he was now a prisoner in.

Loki was interrupted in his reverie by the sound of his door buzzer. It took Loki a minute to register what the noise was as no-one had actually used it up to this point. Anyone that wanted to see him simply came in.

He rose tentatively to his feet, wondering who on earth could be visiting him on a Saturday, when he knew most of the S.H.I.E.L.D staff took the day off. He walked to the door and pressed the button for the intercom camera, that allowed him to see and speak to the person on the other side of the door.

He was extremely surprised to see Darcy, looking nervous and with her arms laden with grocery bags and small plastic boxes. Without speaking, he pressed the button to open the door and allowed her entry.

“Hi” she said as she walked through the door and allowed it tto shut behind her.

“Hello, Agent Lewis.” Loki said, his raised eyebrow the only indication that he wondered at her presence.

“Ummmmm” Darcy began, stuttering over her words slightly “I, ummm, I hope this is okay, but I thought you might, ummmm, like some company? Maybe?”

She was rarely so unsure of herself, but Loki was just stood staring at her and she suddenly realised that she may have completely misread the situation. She was a bout to turn and leave when Lokis face softened very slightly.

“Thank you, Agent Lewis.” He paused for a moment, unsure of the right thing to do or say. He settled with “Can I get you some coffee? I have just brewed a pot.”

Darcy smiled, gesturing towards the kitchen. “Lead on!”

Loki turned towards the kitchen with a small smile, but turned back when he realised Darcy was hefting the bags into her arms again. He bent down to help her lift one of the bags as she grabbed the small plastic boxes. They walked towards the kitchen together and deposited the bags on the worktop.

As Loki retrieved a cup and poured Darcy a coffee, adding milk and sugar; Darcy was emptying the grocery bags, humming softly. Loki stepped up behind her as she emptied the last bag and turned to face him. She jumped as she found him a little closer than she had anticipated.

Loki looked over the collection of junk food that was spread out over his kitchen counter. He picked up a bag of popcorn and quirked an eyebrow at Darcy.

“I decided that an important part of integrating you into human society was….” with a flourish she produced the small plastic boxes that Loki was unfamiliar with but that a human would immediately recognise as DVDs “the box-set binge!”

Darcy was stood, holding a dvd box set in each hand (Supernatural series 1-3 in one hand and Ecclestons Doctor Who in the other), with an absurd grin on her face as Loki looked on in confusion. Darcy lowered her hands as the smile slid from her face.

She was about to explain the concept of binge-watching when a colossal bang sounded and the building began to shake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are about to get interesting! And for those awaiting smut, I promise to get there soon, the story has already carried me in a totally different direction than I had originally intended but I will find a way to work it in as soon as reasonably possible!!!


	8. Chapter 8

The electronics in Lokis apartment/prison began to flicker and crackle just as the shaking stopped, but it was a brief reprieve. A moment later there was another bang, the electrics failed completely and the floor began to shake so violently it was all they could do to keep their feet.

It was daylight outside, so they could still see clearly enough, but despite Darcys frantic yelling, JARVIS was not answering her. With a slam of the doors, Lokis guard burst into the room. Luckily, Mags was close behind Agents Lake and Swift, dragging a tactical kit from one of the emergency hatches in the stairwells and barking orders at Swift and Lake.

“What the fucking hell, Mags!” Darcy yelled, as another bang and tremor shook her clean off her feet. Darcy felt hands grip her shoulders and help her to her feet. Expecting it to be one of the Agents, she was surprised to see that it was Loki, and that his ‘casual’ cotton tunic and trousers had been replaced with his leather and metal armour, complete with floor length green cape.

Another bang sent everyone, Loki included, stumbling to the floor, just as Director Coulson and Agent May came sprinting into the room. Director Coulson swept the room in a second, taking in everything, from Lokis armour to Darcy in her jeans and t-shirt and the two shattered coffee mugs visible just inside the kitchen threshold.

Coulson touched his ear, clearly listening to something being said through the communicator. Darcy wished she had thought to wear hers, as the disconnection to what was happening around her became almost unbearable.

Another bang, another stumble, and she could bear it no more. Practically diving forward, she grabbed Agent Lakes arm, spinning him to face her despite his crouched position.  
“WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?” she demanded, staring into his eyes with as much ferocity as she could manage.

“We’re under attack!” he responded, to an eye roll from Darcy.

“No shit, Sherlock! From who?” she continued just milliseconds before another blast that this time sent shards of broken glass in all directions as the windows were blown in.

Darcy no longer cared who was attacking them as she saw Mags and Loki on the floor, clearly knocked sideways by the most recent, window shattering blast. She ran in an awkward crouched position to where Mags was lay on her side, with an inch long piece of glass sticking out from just under her ribcage.

Loki had been protected by the body armour he had conjured minutes earlier, but it had not protected his face from numerous tiny glass shards that had peppered his skin, leaving tiny scratches in their wake. As Darcy rolled Mags onto her back, Loki took to a crouch on Darcys left, as Agent May did the same to her right.

“Mags? Mags! Can you hear me?” Darcy tried to keep the shake of panic out of her voice and remember the brief emergency medic training she had received, but it was so difficult when it was her friend bleeding beneath her fingers.

Agent May gently nudged Darcy aside, and began to apply pressure around Mags wound. She looked critically at Loki, seeming to size him up for a moment before he spoke.

“Say what you are thinking, Agent May, you wish to know if you can trust me to transport this woman to a safe location” it was less a question than a statement, and it was clear that May was fighting with herself over whether to accept Lokis help.

Coulsons voice broke through the staring battle of wills that was going on between May and Loki. “The restrictions on your teleportation were lifted the moment the attack began, Loki. Get Agent Jones to the…” Coulson was interrupted by the sound of pulsers firing and IronMan crashing through what remained of the windows.

“Well, Agent, looks like our little merger wasn’t as secret as we imagined.” Tony Stark said, as his mask clicked and whirred away from his face.  
“It’s Director, Mr Stark, and I think you may have called it. What could you see?”

Before the Stark could answer, May grabbed their attention.  
“Director, Agent Jones?”  
“Right. Loki, can you transport Agent Jones to the medical station in the basement, sub level 10?” Coulson asked, eyes boring into Lokis, the unspoken warning clear to everyone nearby.

Loki nodded, lifting Mags into his arms as his form began to shimmer. But before he could actually teleport away, Stark had stepped forward.

“Wait! What? You’re giving Reindeer Games free reign to just Nightcrawler his way out of here? What if he skips town? Shit, what if he skips planet?”

Before anyone else could respond, Loki stepped forward with the injured Mags still in his arms.

“This woman is bleeding to death and any severe jolting from your...suit” Loki injected as much disdain into that word as he could muster “would likely cause the glass to shift and her to die. So….” Loki left the word hanging in the air as he once again shimmered green and disappeared.

Coulson turned back to Stark.  
“Did you see who’s attacking us?” he asked the IronMan, who was staring at the spot from which Loki had just dematerialised with a sour expression on his face.  
“No clue, but there are around 2 dozen of them and they have artillery weapons, machine guns….” another blast hit the building, this time vibrating down from the upper floors “...and they have a chopper as air support.”

“Right.” the Director said, running through a dozen battle scenarios in his head before settling on his best option and preparing to communicate it to the agents waiting infront of him and on the radios.

“Stark, you concentrate on the chopper and the heavy weaponry, try to keep them from the blasting the building to nothing. Barton and Rogers deal with anyone who breaches the building from the north and west entrances, Hill, Romanov, you have the south and east entrances, everyone else is to evacuate to basement sub-level 3 and set up a barricade to prevent access by hostile forces. Agents May, Lake, Lewis and I will act as rear-guard and the wipe down team.”

IronMan was airborne and out of the window just seconds after Coulsons orders had been given, as Agent May handed Darcy a weapon.

“What’s the wipe down team?” she asked, as she quickly chambered a round and disengaged the safety on her new weapon. She hated guns, always preferring her taser, but it wasn’t here and the enemy was so bullets would have to do.

“The wipe down team destroys any sensitive information or equipment that could be used to cause harm should it fall into the wrong hands. Basically, we’re a self destruct device, with a little more precision. Ideally, Mr Stark would prefer if we didn’t blow up the entire building.”

As another blast hit, Darcy thought it might be a bit of a wasted exercise.

The team began to move towards the sairwell as Darcy stopped.  
“Wait! What about Loki? How will he know where we’ve gone?”

Coulson and May shared a look.

“I think we can safely assume that Loki is not coming back, but one problem at a time.” May responded.

“Now what could I have possibly done to deserve so little faith?” Loki asked, feigning hurt as he materialized directly behind Agent May. Without missing a beat, May rounded on him.

“You tried to blow up New York.”

“Ah, yes, well, this time I appear to be, however unwillingly, on the side of the good guys so, shall we?” he responded, gesturing for everyone to carry on as he gave Darcy the smallest of winks.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle continues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the mega delay in posting this chapter, things have been really busy.  
> Unfortunately things are likely to stay busy in my little world so I'm not sure how regularly I can post, but I will try to get things up as quickly as I can.  
> As always, thanks for reviewing and commenting! I love reading what you all think!

The small group of agents, led by Director Coulson, started making their way down the stairs, with an agent exiting at every floor to purge the computer systems, and locate any tech that is flagged up during the purge as needing manual destruction.

It was 4 minutes later, as Darcy was about to hit her second floor to purge, that the stairwell exploded around her. She felt herself blown backwards, hitting the handrail with enough force to knock every molecule of breath out of her body.

But the worst was yet to come, as the handrail collapsed beneath her, sending her flying, and she came to rest dangling over the stairwell void, her shoulders screaming in protest at the sudden shock of her body weight hanging from them.

Her scream was lost in the sounds of glass shattering and steel twisting as a massive tremor jarred her left hand loose, but before her right hand could do the same a strong pair of hands had grabbed her by the wrist and begun to pull her to safety.

Once she was back on her feet, Darcy threw her arms around the shoulders of her rescuer, holding him in a tight hug as she let out a stream of “thank you’s”. The loud slam of a stairwell door caused Darcy to open her tear filled eyes, and she came face to face with a slightly shocked looking God of Mischief.

Darcy pulled out of her hug and met the brilliant blue eyes of Director Coulson. Relief at being alive was suddenly overtaken by the utter embarrassment of totally inappropriately hugging her boss.

Before she could do anything to deepen the embarrassment, Coulson gestured towards the door.

“Perhaps we should keep moving? It would be a shame for your celebration of life to be cut short by death.”

Coulson went through first, closely followed by Loki, who raised an eyebrow at Darcy as he passed her. If she was being honest with herself, she had expected her saviour to be Loki, and the resulting hug had been based on that assumption.

But before she could dwell on why she was so disappointed to have found her arms around Coulson and not Loki, the world went dark.

****** Three Days Later ******

Darcys head HURT. Like, alot!

Imagine all of her college hangovers combined into one and you might get vaguely close to what her head felt like in this moment.

Her eyes were heavy, and as she tried to open them the glare of light that snuck into the crack of her eyelids stung like acid. She quickly slammed them shut again, in an effort to prevent the searing pain reaching her already thudding brain, but it was too late.

A hiss escaped her lips with the pain, and this sound brought about a sudden lightening of the load on the bed near her right foot. No amount of curiosity could have made her open her eyes given the nauseating pain she had experienced a few seconds before, until she heard a voice.

“Really, now, Agent Lewis, it can’t be that bad.”

Her eyes shot open, to see sparkling green eyes of a certain God of Mischief smiling down at her. The pain that hit her head made her feel sick, but she refused to look away from Loki, who had settled himself back into the chair beside the foot of her bed with a smug grin on his face.

“Any time you wish to thank me, I am ready to hear it!”

Before Darcy could respond, and almost earsplitting shriek came from the doorway, and a small dark haired blur ran across the room and dived on top of her. It was at this moment that Darcy registered the excruciating pain in her left shoulder, and her sudden, sharp, intake of breath caused Jane to release her grip.

“I’ll go and get the doctor.” Loki said, leaving the room with another brief smile.

Darcy watches him go, then meets the eyes of her friend and former boss.

“Jane, what the hell happened!?”

“What do you remember?” Jane asked, settling herself into the chair that Loki had just vacated.

“I remember the attack starting, while I was visiting Loki, following May and Mags with the others to do the wipedown and I remeber Director Coulson saving me from falling straight down the stairwell. But after that, nothing.”

The fact that Darcy had awoken in what was recognisably a Stark medical facility must mean that nothing too horrendous had happened to her, but she was still concerned about the others.

Jane was trying to suppress a giggle as she said “Ah yes, Loki told us about Coulson rescuing you, and your particularly enthusiastic thanks!”

Darcy simply stuck her tongue out at Jane while she waited for her friend to continue the tale. Janes face fell as she recalled the destruction, and the fear that she had lost her friend.

“Stark Tower fell. Literally. Tony managed to bring down their helicopter air support, but the chopper fell out of control and took out the tower. You were hit by falling debris, but Loki managed to knock you mostly out of the way of the chunk that hit your shoulder. He then teleported you and Coulson down to the basement before going back for the others.”

Darcy’s mouth had fallen open at the idea of Stark Tower coming down. The destruction that could cause in central New York was beyond imagining. As if reading her friends mind, Jane continued.

“Tony saw what was happening and he somehow managed to control the collapse by blowing out other parts of the building as it fell. It was pretty brilliant actually! But don’t ever let him know I said that. But he would have had to be extremely accurate in what he took out to ensure a vertical collapse with no lateral damage, but I guess he had J.A.R.V.I.S. to help so it’s actually not that impressive.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. went down almost as soon as the first wave of bombs hit.” Darcy added, matter of factly, hoping that Jane would soon answer the question that was burning in her throat.

“Oh, well, then I guess he really is as smart as he claims. DEFINATELY don’t ever tell him I said THAT.”

“Jane” Darcy said with a slight tremble to her voice, hoping to bring her flighty friend back on topic.

“Right” Jane said, looking back at Darcy. “Well, amazingly, none of us were killed. The chopper pilot didn’t make it, and one of the guys that attacked was killed in the collapse, but we all got out ok.”

Darcys relief was very short lived as she considered the two dead bodies that must be lying in a morgue somewhere. Bad guys or not, they were still people and they didn’t deserve death.

Loki reentered the room with a cute blonde doctor, and Jane and Loki left so she could be examined. When they were finally allowed back into the room, Darcy had fallen back asleep.

Jane turned to Loki, with whom she had discovered a new ease in the last few days whilst waiting for their mutual friend to wake up, and smiled.

“Coffee run?” she asked.

Loki smiled back. He gestured to the chair beside Darcy’s bed for Jane to sit.

“I do believe it’s my turn.” and he strolled out of the room, immediately flanked by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents the second his foot crossed the threshold into the hall. When he returned with two coffees and two oatmeal muffins, he took the hard plastic chair on the other side of the room and watched as Jane slowly fell asleep, leaning on the bed of her former intern.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy is home from hospital but where is home now the tower is gone? And will Loki be waiting?

It was another three days before Darcy was allowed to leave the medical unit of Stark Industries. Miraculously, Darcy sustained the most serious injuries of anyone caught in the tower collapse, and there had been a steady stream of visitors making sure she was okay and silently counting blessings that no one had been more seriously hurt.

The one visitor she had missed during her brief stay was Loki. He had been there when she had first woken up, but he hadn’t come back since. Darcy didn’t know why it bothered her so much that he wasn’t there, but the fact that he had saved her life had reinforced her opinion that he was really a good guy, and she wanted to find a way to tell him that.

Since the attack, one of SIs many R&D facilities had been completely taken over by the usual workers in Stark Tower, as well as an entire hotel, which now housed all those people who had called the Tower home.

Darcy had been surprised to learn that the attack hadn’t come from a supervillain, an alien or even a long-thought dead terrorist agency that had been hiding in plain sight. Instead, it had been orchestrated by one of SIs biggest competitors looking to get hold of a number of secret prototypes that they believed were being housed in the tower.

They thought that Iron Mans propensity for attracting danger would deflect the blame, and they would get a huge leg up in the market over a nearly destroyed SI.

Even Darcy could see that that plan was an enormous pile of bullshit! Seriously! Attack the home and headquarters of a former arms manufacturer who is famous for flying around the world in an armoured suit that can shoot laser pulses from it hands and feet!! There is no way that could ever end well!

Anyway, it meant that she was now getting ready to leave the infirmary, knowing that all of her belongings were crushed under a pile of extremely high tech rubble and that she was soon to be living in a hotel room. At least she was alive, and Jane had even arranged for Darcy to have the room next door to hers so they could spend a bit more time together.

The trip to the hotel took close to two hours, and Darcy barely noticed the surroundings. She was lost in contemplation of what exactly she would be doing when she returned to work on monday.

She was shaken out of her reverie by the car coming to a halt outside what she assumed must be their destination. She gathered up the few belongings at her feet as the door was opened and looked up at the building that was going to be her home for the foreseeable future.

Darcys breath caught in her throat. She stepped out of the car and looked around at the beautiful grounds surrounding the impressive, country house style hotel in front of her. The front of the building was covered in climbing plants and in the entranceway stood a beautiful marble fountain.

Darcys mouth was still open as Jane barrelled out through the doors to hug her friend.

“Well, what do you think? Tony doesn’t do anything by halves does he!” Jane laughed, taking Darcys bag in one hand and looping their arms to guide her to their rooms.

Jane was busy chatting as they walked up the stairs to Darcys room, about what they had salvaged from the wreckage of Stark Tower, how the set up of her new lab was going, the latest gossip from the interns (most of whoms names she couldn’t even remember) and all manner of other things that she would never normally talk about. After a few words on the ill fated tryst between one of the interns and Agent somebody or other, Darcy stopped dead. Jane turned to look at her.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Darcy asked

“What do you mean?” Jane shuffled from foot to foot and refused to meet Darcys eyes, a classic sign that Jane was hiding something.

“Come on, Jane! You never gossip! You’re trying to distract me. So, again, what’s going on?”

“Don’t answer that! I put way too much effort into this surprise welcome home party for you to ruin it by telling her what’s going on!! Oh, Damn it! Well, now the cats out of the bag, lets go and drink!!” 

Tony Stark was approaching them from the opposite end of the corridor, drink in hand and with a very disapproving looking Pepper Potts hot on his heels.

“Well, now that that’s ruined, welcome home Darcy.” Pepper said, hugging Darcy and kissing her on the cheek.

“That’s fine. I hate surprises. But I do like parties! Where are we going?” she replied as Tony usurped Janes position at her side and practically dragged her down the corridor towards a large set of double doors, with Jane and Pepper trailing in their wake.

“The woman of the hour has arrived! Lets drink!” yelled Tony, as he swept them into the room with the kind of flourish only a billionaire could ever truly pull off!

There were about two dozen people in a beautiful drawing room, with floor to ceiling french windows letting out onto a small balcony with an elaborately carved stone balustrade.

Along with Tony, Pepper and Jane, Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner were stood in a corner sipping iced drinks and chatting quietly, a small gang of interns were stood out on the balcony revelling in their rare opportunity to enjoy time out of the lab, and a load of Darcys colleagues were drinking eating and talking in various groups around the room.

Darcy was quickly furnished with a drink and a small plate of food as she made her way around and said hi to everyone. Mags and some of the other agents were seated in a small group in one of the corners, and she spent a few moments catching up with her friend before she finished her third drink and got up for another.

With a new glass of diet coke in hand, she wandered out to the balcony for a breath of fresh air. A figure caught her eye, stood in the furthest corner of the balcony, looking out over the green gardens surrounding them.

“Well, well well, fancy seeing you skulking around out here!” Darcy said as she approached the long lean form of Loki. “Having fun?” she asked, leaning back against the balustrade and looking up into his face with a smile.

“Good evening, Agent Lewis. You seem much improved. I’m pleased to see you came to no permanent harm.”

Darcy was a little put out by his cold manner, especially since he had apparently not left her bedside for three days after the tower fell. Her uncertainty must have shown on her face, becasue Loki seemed to soften before her eyes, his shoulders dropping, his jaw relaxing and his eyes crinkling in the corners as he smiled at her.

“I’m glad you’re alright...Darcy.” Loki said her name almost experimentally, the question ‘is this okay’ clear in both his voice and his eyes as they met Darcys, having always called her Agent Lewis in the past.

Darcy smiled back, widely, loving the way he said her name.

“Hey, you saved my life, you can call me whatever you like.”

Darcy and Loki fell into an easy conversation, discussing the arrangements Tony had made for his staff, (including Loki VERY reluctantly complimenting the IronMan for his actions during the collapse of the tower) how Jane was coping with the complete loss of all of her einstein-rosen bridge prototypes, and the fate of the fool that had ordered the attack.

By the time they had exhausted those topics, Darcys drink had been empty for over an hour, and at least 10 people had come looking for her, but turned around again at the sight of the unlikely pair laughing and chatting so comfortably.  
Unbeknownst to them, Jane, Tony and Pepper had been watching them through one of the windows for almost their entire conversation. They had even been joined by Coulson, who had dropped in to give his good wishes to Agent Lewis, and to make sure that Loki wasn’t getting up to any of his past tricks, despite being in a room with his entire security detail and most of the Avengers.

".... good for him. Don't you think, Director?" 

Coulson had missed the first half of Janes sentence, but he could guess. And he had to agree with her. Darcy had certainly been good for him. In only a few days she had brought him out of himself, made him laugh and was almost entirely the catalyst for his assistance during the attack on the tower.

“Yes, I think you’re right. Darcy has definitely been good for him.” he responded after another moments observation of the pair on the balcony.

“Ummmm, actually, I said it might be an idea to get Thor to visit. See how well Loki is doing already and to try and clear the air. It might be good for him, or rather good for both of them?”

Coulson turned to look at Jane with a smile.

“Yes, Dr Foster. I think that could be a very good idea, but lets give it a little more time. After all, if they decide to fight it out rather than hug it out, even Tonys money is unlikely to be enough to find us a new place to call home!”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will they.....?

Darcy had had an amazing time at the party but she was totally beat, and so it was with a pleading look at Pepper and Jane that she tried to extract herself from an increasingly exuberant Tony!

Thankfully, the two women saw her difficulty and came to her rescue, Pepper with a charm offensive that had Tony grinning like a small boy at christmas, and Jane with the dexterity to quickly get Darcy out of the door and on her way to her room before anyone could notice she was gone.

As the two friends walked towards their rooms, which Jane had made sure were side by side, they talked about the party, and Peppers almost magical ability to control even drunk Tony!

“Speaking of women and their bad boys, you and Loki looked to be getting along really well tonight!” Jane commented, clearly asking an unspoken “What’s that all about?”

“I guess so. We get along well. I’ve only really worked with him for a few days but he’s been … I don’t know? Nice? Civil? Anyway, he just doesn’t seem like a raging murderer bent on world domination and I’m trying to treat him how I would treat anyone else. After everything you told me about him helping you and Thor, and some of the stuff I’ve kinda guessed about his mothers death, I’d like to just...help him.”

Darcy had gone off on a slight ramble and so missed Janes long suffering smile. Darcy was always looking for a project, and she couldn’t help herself if the project she found was a human (well, almost) one.

Janes feeling for Loki were complex to say the least, but in a very strange way she couldn’t help but feel that they could each bring out something good in the other.

Darcy was extremely smart, even if she chose to hide it behind a veil of sass and attitude, and Loki could bring that out of her, Jane was sure. And Loki was in desperate need of some acceptance and Darcy was one of the most accepting people Jane knew. 

As the two women said their goodnights, Jane held the hug longer than she normally would.

“I’m glad you’re ok, Darce.”

“Thanks boss lady.” Darcy replied, opening the door to her new room and stepping inside.

Darcys room was beautiful. A large Queen Anne style four poster bed dominated the centre of the bedroom, with a matching dresser on the opposite wall. The bedding was all cream and gold brushed cotton, soft and sumptuous looking, and there was just one lovely landscape painting on one wall.  
The ensuite was painted a warm ochre, with a massive double walk-in shower and there was a small kitchenette just off the entryway complete with a state of the art coffee maker and some of her favourite beans. A small note next to the machine made Darcy squeal with delight.

“Dear Darcy, We know how you love your coffee! As your machine was buried under a pile of rubble we thought you may need a replacement! Love Pepper and Tony”

Darcy got undressed and grabbed a t-shirt out of the small holdall of clothes that Jane had bought for her, before crawling into the depths of her cloud-like bed and drifting off to sleep.

 

***

It took an exorbitant amount of time for Darcy to wake up the next morning. It was as though her bed shared her unwillingness to rise from its warm, comfy depths and was doing all in its power to keep her asleep.

In the end though it was Darcys bladder that broke up the beautiful new relationship between Darcy and her bed, and she had to get up. On her way back from the bathroom, she poured coffee beans into her new coffee maker and set it off to automatically grind and brew her favourite nectar of the gods.

After a few minutes, during which the room had been filled with the beautiful aroma of coffee and vanilla, Darcy emptied the small holdall of clothes that Jane had brought her and surveyed what remained of her wardrobe. Thank god she had left a few things at Janes old apartment before moving to Stark Tower!

There were a few SHIELD t-shirts, including the one she had pulled on before bed the previous night, a set of gym clothes, a couple of jumpers, a pair of jeans, a skirt and a green knit dress. As well as these items, there was a small pile of underwear, a couple of her trademark knitted beanies and a silver necklace she had forgotten about completely.

She wasn’t expected to work today, but she wanted to have a look around the hotel and the new space that she would be working in later in the week when she WAS due back, so she decided to don the green dress and her flat black shoes and start her explorations.

Darcy quickly poured more coffee into a travel mug that she had *ahem* ‘borrowed’ from the hospital, and swung her door open with a vigour that said “Hey world! I’m better and I’m comin’ to getcha!” 

That feeling quickly evaporated, however, as she looked into the amused, if startled, eyes of the devastatingly handsome trickster god that was supposed to be her charge.  
“Good morning, Agent Lewis. Ready to face the day it appears?!” 

My god, how could he sound like he was being both sweet and sarcastic at the same time? 

“I have a new coffee machine! I’m always ready to face the day when there is coffee to be had and an awesome luxury hotel to be explored!”

She manouvered her way out of the door and around Lokis two guards before looking back at him and raising an eyebrow.

“Coming?” she asked, slightly surprised when he slid into step beside her in the blink of an eye. “What did you want anyhow?” she asked, giving him a sidelong glance as the walked down the hallway and towards the huge oak staircase that dominated the entry way.

“I..umm…” Loki rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly as they walked and Darcy had a brief moment to think ‘is he FLUSTERED? Like, actually, really, doesn’t-know-what-to-say, wont-look-me-in-the-eye flustered!’

Darcy was so busy marvelling over Lokis apparent inability to string a sentence together that she failed to notice that she had reached the stairs, and it was only Lokis lightning reflexes that saved her from falling headlong down them.

He had wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close against his chest while he held the bannister with his other hand. Darcy found herself almost nose to nose with Loki as he glared down at her.

“Really, Agent Lewis! Are you determined to kill yourself?” he ground out from between his teeth with his jaw locked.

Darcy couldn’t speak! His proximity had stolen all of her breath away and instead she was just staring into his eyes, with her hand resting on his chest. Loki had failed to release his grip and their breath was mixing enticingly between them as his eyes softened and then began to darken with something Darcy could have sworn was desire.

Darcy felt herself leaning in to Loki, drawn in by those beautiful green eyes. Their lips were a hairs breadth apart when a “ahem” from behind them sent Darcy reeling backwards.

Loki was again forced to grab her to stop her from falling down the stairs, but this time he released his grip immediately after setting her back on solid ground.

Darcy straightened her dress and shot a glare a Lokis guards, Agent Lake and a guy whos name she couldn’t remember, for interrupting their moment, before snatching a quick glance at Loki himself. He was stood on the top step, gripping the bannister so tight his knuckles were white, and clearly trying to avoid meeting her gaze.

Darcy had no intention of letting things get awkward, so she stepped in beside him once again, looped her arm through his and waited until he looked down at her.

“I think it’s best if I keep you around! Never know when I might need saving again!” she said with a smile, waiting for him to smile back. Eventually, his face eased and he relaxed once again.

They spent the rest of the morning walking around the hotel and the grounds, marvelling over the size of the gardens and how quiet everything was despite how close they were to the city.

Darcy soon stopped noticing that her arm was looped in Lokis, or that she would occasionally brush her fingers against his sides to get his attention, but Loki certainly noticed. He found himself smiling more that morning than he had for many, many months, Darcys laughter and companionship soothing some of the shallower cuts the last few years had left on his soul.

They ate lunch together on the balcony of the room of Darcys party from the previous night, before Agent Lake spoke, for the first time that day!

“Loki, Dr Foster is expecting you to join her in her lab in 15 minutes. If we are going to be on time we should leave in the next 5 minutes.”

“Thank you, Agent Lake” was Lokis monotone reply.

Loki finished his cup of coffee, before rising from his seat opposite Darcy. He turned to say goodbye, but found that she too was on her feet.

“Mind if I come with? I’d like to see Jane. I haven’t spoken to her yet today and I’m willing to bet she has a sore head this morning!” the question was directed at Loki, but it was Agent Lake who answered.

“No problem, Agent Lewis” he smiled. Darcy huffed out a sigh.

“You know, the people in place really need to start calling me Darcy!” she said heading out of the room behind Loki and the the agents.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start getting more interesting!

“Holy crap!” whispered Darcy, as she took a moment to work out how the hell she had ended up half reclined on Lokis sofa as he kissed her breathless!

*****

The afternoon had been a fun one, what with teasing Jane about her hangover, watching Loki teleporting himself, objects and on one occasion Darcy, across the Lab, and being treated like royalty by the horde of interns! I mean, seriously, anyone would think she’d nearly died or something!

By the time 4pm rolled around, Janes headache was so bad she abandoned the interns to write up the results of Lokis teleportation experiment and joined Loki, Darcy and the Agents on their way back to the hotel.

Darcy was particularly pleased to see Jane interacting so freely with Loki, despite her sore head. It made something in Darcys stomach flip to see her best friend and Loki getting on well, although she couldn’t work out why that was.

Well, if she was honest with herself, she knew exactly why that was but tried not to examine that feeling because, urgh, complicated!!!!

After the brief car journey back to the hotel, Jane looked about ready to collapse, so being the good friend that she was, Darcy decided to let her out of dinner and instead sent the scientist off to bed with a stern motherly lecture about the evils of alcohol, which was seriously undermined by the impish grin on Darcys face as she said it.

Suddenly finding herself facing dinner alone, Darcy did something she would forever claim to have been the result of a moment of delirium.

She chased after Loki and invited him to hers for dinner.

Loki looked stunned but accepted the invitation with a smile.

Agent Lake, however, took Darcy by the arm and pulled her to the side, talking in an urgent whisper.

"What are you doing, Darcy?"

Darcy rankled at the look on Lakes face. It was a mix of accusation, aggression and, if Darcy wasn't mistaken, jelousy.

"I'm just being friendly! He's been here months and he hasn't got any friends. How is he supposed to be properly rehabilitated if he's so bloody isolated?"

"Well you can be the one to clear it with Agent May. And don't be surprised if she thinks you're as crazy as I do."

And with that, Agent Lake strode away, taking out his obvious frustration on Loki by shoving him between the shoulders to get him moving.

Despite Agent Lakes reservations, Agent May gave her approval after less than half an hour and with the agreement of Director Coulson thrown in.

There was a caveat, however, and that was that the meal had to happen in Lokis rooms, where his security could remain on the door and surveillance would be uninterrupted.

So at 6.15 pm Darcy found herself outside Lokis suite going through the security sweep. In an effort to appease the guards, who she strongly suspected Lake had been bad mouthing her to, Darcy has bought fresh coffees and some of her favourite cupcakes.

The guards moods improved when she handed the treats over and they waved her through with a smile and thanks.

Darcy closes the door behind her and looks around. Lokis room is twice the size of hers; with an open plan lounge, kitchen dining area and a doorway into what looks like a bedroom with ensuite.

Loki is currently nowhere to be seen, so Darcy steps into the kitchen area and starts dishing up the Chinese takeout she had ordered.

Not knowing what Loki might like, she had ordered a whole bunch of things for him to try.

There was prawn toast, prawn crackers, cantonese sweet and sour chicken, beef and bean sprouts, szechuan shredded pork, chicken chow mein, noodles, fried rice, pineapple fritters and even some Lychee ice cream that she had never tried before.

Loki appeared from the bedroom just as Darcy finished dishing up and putting the desserts into the fridge and freezer.

"Anything I can help with Agent Lewis?" He asked as Darcy turned to face him.

Her brain stuttered and then stalled as she took in the sight of him.

He was wearing a pair of slim fitting black jeans that hugged him perfectly and an emerald green t-shirt that was so tight she could almost make out the lines of his beautifully muscled torso.

Darcy had seen him in nothing but a towel before, and his Asgardian armour and cape were pretty impressive, but somehow this was infinitely sexier.

Especially when she realised his hair was still shower damp and that he was barefoot.

Darcy forced herself to stop staring at Loki and turned away to pick up two of the plates.

"If you could grab a load of cutlery while I put the other plates out that would be great." Now she had stopped her mouth watering over the sexy demi god, she turned to him and smiled.

Loki did as he was asked and after a few moments they were sat opposite each other at the table.

Loki looked fascinated by the selection in front of him and began asking Darcy what everything was.

The meal turned out to be great fun, with Loki tasting everything with caution but then digging in with gusto when he realised it was all good. His favorite seemed to be the cantonese sweet and sour, which was fine because Darcy was enjoying the beef and bean sprouts way too much to share more than a few forkfuls.

Darcy laughed as Loki almost groaned in frustration when he put the last forkful into his mouth.

"Wow! For a skinny guy you can sure put the food away."

"I hardly think I can be called skinny, Agent Lewis." He replied in mock outrage.

"No, true. You're pretty much perfect." Darcy said before she could stop herself.

A very uncharacteristic blush crept its way over Darcys cheeks, and she was shocked to see a similar blush momentarily tinge Lokis sculpted cheekbones.

"Dessert!" Darcy almost shouted to cover her embarrassment.

She dived to the kitchen and leant against the counter next to the open fridge letting the cool air chill her cheeks.

With a quick ‘get it together, Lewis’ she reached in and grabbed the pineapple fritters.  
Grabbing two bowls, she dished a fritter into each and extracted the ice cream from the freezer.

Balancing the two bowls, the tub of ice cream and two spoons, she walked back over to the table, where Loki had stacked the empty dishes and pushed them to the side.

Dessert was delicious, and any tension between them evaporated when they made simultaneous noises of pleasure at the amazing Lychee ice cream. They ate in companionable silence, both enjoying the last part of the meal.

When the fritters were finished, Darcy cleared the table while Loki made coffee, and they ended up on the sofa talking about the differences in Earth and Asgardian culture.

“So, how old are you?” Darcy asked after they had talked about coming of age celebrations (the description of Darcys 21st party had left Loki looking bemused, having no idea what star wars or sexy storm troopers were).

“Old. I stopped counting the Midgardian years long ago. But in Asgardian terms I am only around a quarter of the way through my expected years.”

“Wow, so you’re 25ish, like me? That’s cool.”

Darcy finished her coffee and rose from the sofa. She came back with what was left of the ice cream and two spoons.

“Feel like finishing this off?” she asked, handing Loki a spoon.

He took it with a smile and Darcy sat close beside him so they could both reach the tub. Loki moved closer to reach the ice cream and Darcy felt him pressed against her side from shoulder to hip.

It sent a jolt of attraction through her entire body, and she finally realised that, yes, she really did want him, alien or not.

She was intently focussed on his face as he put the spoon of ice cream into his mouth, closing his eyes and savouring the flavour. When he opened his eyes again they immediately met Darcys.

Lokis eyes narrowed very slightly, as if in question, but his question was answered almost instantly as Darcy closed the gap between them and pressed her lips to his.

It was a chaste kiss, the barest of touches, and Darcy pulled back to look into Lokis eyes again.

"Agent Lewis..."

"Dammit, Loki, if you don't start calling me Darcy I'm going to do something really evil"

That made him grin.

"Darcy, this could be a very bad idea."

Darcy didn't answer with words, instead she took the spoon out of his hand and placed it and the ice cream onto the coffee table before kneeling fully sideways on the sofa in front of Loki and leaning in for a second kiss.

This time Darcy wove her hands into Lokis long dark hair, but began to pull away when Loki didn't respond. She was stopped by Lokis arms quickly coming around her, one settling between her shoulder blades and the other entwining itself in her hair and pulling her back into the kiss.

He gently tugged on her hair, tipping her head back and allowing him to tentatively deepen the kiss, urged on by Darcys small groan of pleasure. Their kiss became less tenative and more heated as the moments passed, and it was only the need for air that drove them to part, resting with their lips still fractionally touching, breathing each other in and out as they caught their breath.

Darcy moved herself backwards so that she was half reclined on the sofa, resting on the arm, and Loki settled gently over her, his knees either side of her thighs.

His gaze was heated as their eyes met again, and Darcy gave a bright smile, before leaning up to capture his lips once again.

This kiss turned heated much faster, and Darcys hands had moved from Lokis hair to caress his strong upper arms, his shoulders and down his muscled back to rest on his hips.

Lokis hands were both at Darcys neck, where he held her head at the same time as leaning on his forearms to keep his weight off her.

They carried on kissing this way for close to 30 minutes. At some point Darcy had slid her hands under Lokis t-shirt and was now caressing skin, while Loki had shifted them onto their sides so that one of his arms was no longer needed to support his weight and he could stroke his hands over Darcys curves.

At 11pm, there was a knock on the door, and Darcy and Loki broke apart.

“Holy crap!” whispered Darcy to herself, as Loki pulled down his shirt and quickly sat them up.

Darcy wasn’t sure why he bothered trying to smooth down his hair, when it was clear by their pink and slightly swollen lips what they had been doing. Plus the fact that Lokis rooms were under permanent surveillance.

CRAP! Darcy had forgotten about that. Yep, she was fired.

“Come in” Loki called. ONe of the guards came in and informed them that it was lights out time, and that Darcy would have to leave.

If he noticed the state they were both in, he kept quiet.

Loki and Darcy exchanged weirdly awkward good nights as Darcy left. 15minutes later, and safely back in her room, Darcy thought back on her evening and had to admit, if she was going to be fired, kissing Loki was totally worth it!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was quite a long time coming, things have been a bit manic around here!  
> I'm trying to move things along a bit now and I'm slightly worried that people may seem a bit OOC in this chapter.  
> Any comments you have would be much appreciated!

Darcy awoke the next morning to the sound of the T.A.R.D.I.S landing beside her bed.

  
Much to her disappointment, it wasn’t actually The Doctor coming to whisk her off for an adventure in time, but was instead the text alert coming from her mobile phone.

Sitting herself up and reaching for her phone, Darcy smiled to herself at the memory of Lokis kisses from the night before.

Her smile faded as she read the text.

_Agent Lewis, Please be in my office at 9am sharp. Director Coulson._

Oh yeah, fired.

Checking the time and realising she had more than an hour until she had to leave, Darcy lay back down and rested her head on her arms.

Despite her sadness at the life she was about to lose, she still smiled at the thought of Lokis lips on hers, and at the look of uncertainty on his face as he had warned her of what a bad idea their little tryst could be.

Dragging herself towards the shower after a few more minutes of reminiscing, she started getting ready for seeing Director Coulson.

At 8.55am she was stood outside Coulsons office, with her travel mug of coffee in her hands and wearing jeans and a t-shirt as her only smart outfit was in her laundry pile smelling of a mix of Chinese food, wine and the tiniest hint of Loki.

“Come in.” Coulsons voice called in response to Darcys quiet knock.

Darcy stepped through the door and up to Coulsons desk. She pretty much knew what was about to happen but she could not bring herself to act all apologetic, so she held her head high despite the roiling in her stomach and waited for Coulson to look up at her.

When he did so, he smiled.

“Sit down Agent Lewis.” he said, gesturing to one of the seats in front of the desk.

She took a seat, feeling a little off balance at the warm and kindly tone in Coulsons voice.

“You know we have Lokis rooms under 24hr surveillance, yes?”

“Yes, Director.”

“So you know that a number of people will already be aware of the change in your relationship with our guest?”

Truthfully, Darcy hadn’t thought of the others that might know, her mind flashing with annoyance towards Agent Lake. Despite this, she answered in the affirmative.

“Was last night the first time anything of that kind happened?”

“Yes.”

“Are you prepared for the potential fallout?”

Surprised by the question, and the fatherly way in which it was delivered, Darcy took a moment to answer.

“Ummmm, I haven’t really thought about it yet.”

Coulson looked at Darcy, sweeping his eyes over her as though trying to read a novel from her body language and her expression.

“I bet you thought I’d called you here to fire you?”

“Kinda, yeah.” she responded feeling even more wrongfooted as the question implied that was not going to happen.

“Well, you’re not fired. And I don’t want to transfer you away from helping him integrate, because I think you are the best person to do that. Even more so now, if that doesn’t sound creepy!” he said, with a bit of a grin. “I wanted to talk to you because I wanted to know what your thoughts are. Do you want to continue working with Loki?”

“Yes.” Darcy replied, before she could even think of the answer

“Okay. Tougher question, do you think you can handle the unpleasantness that might be heading your way from the people who think he should be locked up and the key thrown in a black hole?”

Darcy almost laughed at Coulsons words. She had no idea if she was prepared for that or not!

Coulson seemed to read her thoughts, negating the need for her to answer by speaking for her.

“I guess this is a lot to spring on you only a few hours after the first kiss” Darcy felt her cheeks colour slightly under Coulsons slight smirk “but it is something I want you to think about.”

“Okay” she nodded “but I think maybe I should talk to Loki, too. This …. thing will affect him too and he may not want to, umm, carry it on anyway.”

Darcys face fell at the thought of Loki rebuffing her, and she suddenly had to fight back tears. She angrily brushed them away. She was Darcy _fucking_ Lewis for christ sake, she did NOT cry at the idea of rejection.

Coulson reached across and gave her hand a quick squeeze before glancing quickly over his shoulder. A very familiar voice emerged from the shadows as a shape began to coalesce before Darcys very eyes.

“I assure you, Darcy, as I did Director Coulson when he practically broke my door down at 1am, that I would be eager to ‘carry it on’ if you are happy to do so.” Loki stepped forward from where he had been secretly listening to the conversation, and stood beside Coulsons chair.

Darcy simply looked from Loki to Coulson, feeling a little annoyed with them both. She wiped at her face even more angrily, making sure to rid her face of any trace of tears.

“You were there the whole time? And you knew?” she directed glares at both men in turn causing them both to, pleasingly, look a little guilty.

“I have been with Loki for much of the night” Darcy couldn’t help the amused smirk that quirked her features at Coulsons choice of words “and we have had an interesting conversation.” Coulson chose to ignore Darcys smirk.

Loki stepped in now.

“I am keen to find a place somewhere Darcy, I have no home anymore, as you well know, and I experienced a strange sense of satisfaction assisting your S.H.I.E.L.D during the attack on Stark Tower. It reminded me of who I once was. And despite the turbulence of the last few years, I found myself wishing to be that man again.”

“Loki has skills that could be highly beneficial to us in S.H.I.E.L.D, as well as a vast wealth of knowledge that may even allow us to perfect interstellar travel within the next few years.” Coulson took a deep breath, as though steeling himself to say something unpleasant. “We have asked Loki to join the Avengers initiative, and he has accepted with a number of small conditions. One of them was being allowed to hear what you said this morning.”

Darcy had a look on her face that made both men lean back imperceptibly, both waiting for the tirade they fully expected.

Instead, they were surprised to see Darcys face break into a smile!

“So, an Avenger huh?” she directed at Loki. He simply shrugged, his own face breaking into a tentative smile. “But, eavesdropping? Really?”

“I was unsure how you would feel about things this morning. I wanted to know what you thought without the pressure of actually being the one to ask.”

“We really need to work on your emotional intelligence you know.” Darcy said with a smile.

Coulson must have decided that things were getting a little too soppy for his liking, so he rose from his chair.

“Loki, we will get the paperwork finished up soon, and the surveillance of your rooms will cease immediately. There will be no longer be guards on your rooms, as promised, however you will remain under guard whenever you leave this facility.”

“Agreed” Loki responded, dragging his eyes from Darcy and stepping forward to shake Coulsons hand.

The two men parted with slightly guarded smiles, before Coulson took his seat at his desk and Loki and Darcy turned to the door.

“Loki, perhaps in the interest of discretion you should take a different route to your rooms?” Coulson said, without so much as looking up from his papers.

Without any warning, Loki wrapped an arm around Darcys waist and the edges of her vision were turning green.

When her vision righted again, it was to find herself stood in Lokis kitchen.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start heating up!  
> cough *smut* cough!

Loki was pacing his living area nervously.

It had been more that a week since he and Darcy enjoyed their first 'date' and they had spent pretty much every evening together since. Her company was beginning to remind him of the young man he had once been, before years of betrayal were revealed and years of torture endured.

Each evening, their laughter could be heard ringing through his rooms, Darcy seeming to enjoy introducing him to new foods and TV shows.

After an entire weekend of Supernatural, a few evenings of Doctor Who and the complete Harry Potter movie collection in various lumps, he was beginning to understand some of Darcys strange references, and had even slipped a few of his own in when spending his days in Janes lab.

He had actually made the usually scarily focussed physicist laugh out loud when he whispered "expelliarmus" as he sent a tubular sensor flying out of one of her interns hands.

Since Darcy had been reassigned, he had been spending all of his days in Janes lab. He strongly suspected that Darcy had asked her friend to keep him occupied, and despite his initial reservations, he actually found himself warming to his brothers woman.

She was remarkably astute, and picked up on the links between her work and what remained of Lokis magic, questioning him on the physical effects it had on him and about technology she had seen in Asgard but had not had the opportunity to investigate.

All in all, his life had taken a definite upswing.

And yet, he was still pacing.

And the reason for his pacing was due to arrive any minute. Darcy.

His affections for her had exploded since their relationship had begun, and he knew he was in terrible danger of hurting them both if he allowed things to continue. He couldn't deny his feelings for her, but she was a beautiful, intelligent woman who deserved far more than an imprisoned criminal could offer.

He knew that she was not short of admirers. Agent Lake had made it clear that he desired her, and his jelousy was causing an increase in hostility towards Loki, and more than a couple of others had shown signs of wanting Darcy for themselves.

The door of his rooms opening pulled Loki out of his thoughts and he saw the object of his affections barreling her way into his kitchen with armfulls of takeout cartons.

"Ready to broaden your culinary horizons even further tonight! It's Thai Night!!" she practically squealed at him as she dished up two huge plates of food.

Darcy turned towards him with a plate in each hand but stopped dead at the look on his face.

"Darcy...." Loki began, but Darcy cut him off by slamming the plates down on the counter.

"Don't you dare!" she practically growled at him. "I know exactly what you're going to say but don't bother."

"Darcy.." Loki tried again, and again he was cut off, this time by a finger being jabbed into his chest as Darcy stepped closer.

"I know what you're thinking Loki and let me make one thing clear. I am the only person who gets to decide what's best for me! You've been gearing yourself up for this for days, I've felt it, and I know you don't think you're good enough and that I should be with someone 'better for me' (she puntuated the phrase with air quotes and such an exaggerated look of distaste that Loki wanted to laugh) but I _want_ you. Got it?"

"But...." Loki tried once more.

"NO BUTS! I make my choices, not you." Darcy was jabbing her finger so hard into Lokis chest now he was surprised it was not causing her pain, but she had made her point for now. He smiled as she turned back to their plates and set them on the table, giving him a look that clearly said 'get your arse to this table and eat before I injure you'. Choosing not to be injured by the feisty mortal girl, he sat.

Their dinner passed peacefully, although Loki still felt uneasy about their relationship.

After dinner, they moved to his sofa as Darcy inserted a DVD of something called Merlin. He enjoyed the light shining in her eyes as she told him of this version of the Arthurian legends. Her eyes lit up as she talked about something called 'Merthur' and he was instructed to admire the chemistry between the two young male actors palying the leading roles.

The show was entertaining enough, but the feeling of Darcy pressed into his side dragged his emotions back to the surface.

After the first episode had finished, he reached out and grabbed the remote, standing up so swiftly that Darcy flopped backwards and ended up lay on his sofa with murder in her eyes.

"What the hell, Loki?" she asked with a small tinge of a hiss.

"You should not be here." His carefully planned speech had been derailed earlier, so he decided to try and 'wing it'.

"What?"

"I am a murderer and a prisoner on your world. This is not going to end well. Better it end now than after we have become too attached to each other."

"I'm not leaving."

"I'm not asking. Leave, please."

"Please? Sounds like asking to me. And I say, NO."

"Leave, Darcy."

Darcy stood up on the sofa, reaching out to grab his tshirt and pull him to her, her position on the sofa making her a few inches taller than him.

"I....SAID....NO!" she growled, staring him in the eyes whilst gripping his tshirt tightly in her fists.

Before Loki even knew what was happening, Darcy had crashed her lips onto his. She was kissing him with fury, nipping at his lips and demanding entry with her tongue.

After a moment of hesitation, Loki parted his lips and met her tongue with his own.

 They kissed in this way, with a barely contained mix of passion and rage, for what felt like hours, but eventually Darcy pulled away. Stepping off the sofa and returning them to their usual height dynamic, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him resting her head on his chest.

"Are you done trying to push me away now?" she asked with her head pillowed above his heart and a sigh in her voice as Lokis arms came around her.

"Perhaps, for now." he replied, earning a small huff of annoyed amusement from Darcy.

"Well, your plan of getting rid of me before we get too attached is total bollocks I'm afraid, because that ship has already sailed."

Despite the fact that only minutes earlier he had been trying to break things off with her, the knowledge that she cared for him too much to let go warmed him from the inside out.

Pushing Darcy slightly away from him, he bent his head and captured her lips in a gentle kiss. Darcy quickly responded to the kiss tipping her head up and parting her lips, their tongues twirling together in a well practiced dance that caused both of them to gasp with pleasure.

Darcys hands seemed to have worked without the consent of her brain (not that her brain minded _at all_ ) and she found herself gripping the hem of Lokis t-shirt and tugging it upwards. She was so much shorter than him, however, that it had only just reached his forearms when she couldn't lift any higher and Loki had to do a very undignified wiggle to finish removing it.

Undignified, but hella hot!

Darcys lips dove for skin, sucking and nipping at Lokis neck while he gasped with an unreserved pleasure that only drove Darcys need higher.

Lokis hands were in their favoured positions, one tangled in her hair while the other settled at the small of her back, holding her close to him. But slowly, they began to move. Both hands found her hips, his fingers working to lift her jumper and allow him access to the skin of her lower back, where he brushed his fingers gently around her base of her spine, making her tingle.

Their speeds were at odds, Darcy almost frantically kissing, licking and nipping at Lokis neck, shoulders and chest, while he was slowly and reverently teasing her skin with only the very tips of his fingers, his head tilted back and his eyes closed as he enjoyed Darcys attentions.

Darcy pulled back, looking up at Loki and waiting for him to return her gaze. When he did, her breath nearly failed her completely.

His usually stunning green eyes were almost black with lust, his cheeks were slightly flushed and his lips were pink and swollen from a combination of their fierce kissing and him biting his lower lip while Darcy smothered his chest and neck with kisses.

She had wanted to say something eloquent and alluring but instead made a garbled noise followed immediately by "Bedroom"

Lokis eyebrows shot up for a split second before his lips were once again on hers and she was being lifted by strong arms and carried bridal style through the bedroom door.

With an incredibly sexy and mischevious glint in his eyes, Loki dropped Darcy onto the bed, watching her bounce on the mattress before dropping onto his arms and knees on the bed and stalking up her now prone body.

Darcy had to keep reminding herself to breath.

He looked so predatory as he slowly crawled over her, but nothing about it felt threatening. It was just _hot_!

Loki lowered himself down slightly and their lips locked in a gentle, slow and rythmic teasing of tongues while the length of his body pressed along the length of hers.

Of course, him being so much taller than her meant that the hard line of his arousal was pressed into her lower thigh instead of where Darcy really wanted it.

"Clothes...off... _now_!" Darcy gasped between kisses, and practically shoved him away so that she could pull her top and sweater off in one quick move before jumping off the bed to wriggle out of her jeans and underwear. With one last flourish, she unhooked her bra and dangled it from her finger with a grin at Loki, before letting it drop to the floor.

Darcy watched as Loki swallowed, his adams apple bobbing temptingly beneath pale skin that begged to be kissed, but she resisted the urge to move towards him.

Instead, she gazed pointedly at the trousers that had yet to be removed and raised an eyebrow in silent admonishment.

Loki rose, coming to stand in front of Darcy, close enough that she need only lean forward a fraction to touch him again.

With another one of those mischieveious grins, Loki made a small gesture with his hand, and his remaining clothing melted away, to reveal toned muscular legs and the full extent of his erection.

And what an extent! Darcy was inwardly jumping up and down and clapping at the sight before her!

They both leant forward, coming together in a battle of lips and limbs as each tried to touch every inch of the other.

Darcy gasped as Lokis fingers ghosted softly up her sides, their path curving inwards under the swell of her breast before slipping back down her stomach.

Darcy gasped in a ragged breath against Lokis lips as he dipped his fingers lower and dragged them slowly and deliberately over her clit.

"Ahhhhh" she moaned as he did it again, and again.

Loki slowly adjusted their position so that Darcys legs were pressed against the bed behind her before lowering her backwards, bending himself at the waist to keep their lips locked.

As he pulled away from their kiss, Darcy shifted herself further up the bed, waiting for Loki to settle himself between her thighs. But he didn't.

Instead, Loki knelt down between her knees and replaced his fingers with his cool, wet tongue.

Darcy gasped as Loki flattened his tongue and gave a sharp lick, just as he slipped two fingers deep into her wet core.

Darcy was so wound up by the teasing that she arched off the bed screaming as Loki combined a crook of his fingers with a swirl of his tongue, the force of her orgasm causing her to see stars behind her eyelids.

Darcy felt the bed dip as Loki positioned himself at her entrance, pausing until Darcy opened her eyes.

"Are you sure you want this?" he asked.

"God, yes. Wait, I'm assuming you don't have anything that I could catch? And that my contraceptive pill will work on your super space sperm?"

"No, and yes, it will work, there is no danger of a child from our union"

"Excellent!" And Darcy wrapped her legs around Lokis hips and dragged him into her with one long fluid movement.

They both gasped, before setting up a fast tempo of push and pull that had them both gasping with pleasure.

Loki bent his head to Latch once more onto Darcys lips, kissing and nibbling his way down the column of her throat as they rode ever closer to the peak.

"Darcy!" Loki gasped out as his release swept over him.

"Loki!" Darcy screamed at the same moment, as her own orgasm shook through her, even better than the previous.

*****

Two months later

Darcy woke to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and warm croissant being placed on the small table beside her pillow. She stretched, like a cat, before sitting up to appreciate the view as Loki stepped back into his bedroom with his own mug and plate.

Slipping carefully back into the bed beside her, Loki dropped a kiss onto Darcys head.

They enjoyed their coffee and croissants in companiable silence, neither of them realising that Darcy had spent everyone of the last 60 nights in Lokis rooms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to stop this fic here because things have been really busy and don't look like easing up soon, and I really didn't want to leave it weeks or months between new chapters.  
> Instead, I may turn this into a series and just drop new stories in once they're fully written if I get chance around work, kids, uni and renovating!  
> I hope you have all enjoyed reading it, and thank you all so much for every kind comment! They make me really happy!


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